The chair of the Iwi Education Authority is praising Te Kura O Torere near Opotiki in the eastern Bay of Plenty for bringing in kaumatua to teach tamariki life skills to students.
Toby Curtis said kaumatua there are working closely with the students to help them understand their whakapapa, their relationship to the marae and to their school.
He said the children are being taught about community responsibility, as well as learning about their tribal past and future.
Dr Curtis said the children are being taught to appreciate that they have a long-term responsibility to the community, and to understand how people lived in the past and what is expected of them in the future.
