World’s indigenous
peoples gather
Some 200 workshops will be
By Pat Omandam
held as 2,500 international
representatives meet in Hilo
Star-BulletinHILO -- Back in 1993, Robert Morgan saw little emphasis on indigenous education in the draft declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples being prepared by the United Nations.
In response, the aboriginal educator from Australia formed a task force of natives to "put together some words" on the principles, values and rights aboriginal people have about their education.
The task force met between Sept. 24 and Oct. 1 of that year in Coolongatta, New South Wales. It emerged with the first draft of the "Coolongatta Statement on Indigenous Rights in Education," a working document Morgan hopes the 2,500 indigenous people attending this week's triennial conference in Hilo will support as the statement makes its way into submission before the United Nations.
By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Alwood Hooper is a symbol of Na Koa O Puu Kohola Heaua
at the opening ceremonies.The World Indigenous Peoples'
Conference on Education continues all this week in Hilo.
"The Coolongatta Statement is not a panacea," cautioned Morgan, who headed the 1993 World Indigenous Peoples' Conference on Education in Wollongong, Australia."It isn't the answer to indigenous education, and it is not meant to be. We tried to create a document that identifies fundamental rights and freedoms that must be incorporated in the systems of education that we are in," he said last Friday at the start of a two-day workshop on the Coolongatta Statement.
The workshop was the first of 200 planned as part of the Hilo conference, which has set up home base at Hawaii Community College and has workshops and field trips scattered around the Big Island.
Yesterday, thousands of people lined Hilo bay for the conference's opening ceremonies, in which dignitaries on the Hawaiian voyaging canoe Makalii were welcomed by hundreds of Hawaiian drummers and chanters, as well as 1,000 hula dancers. That event was followed by formal "awa ceremonies at a makeshift Hawaiian Village near Edith Kanaka"ole Stadium and by a parade of nations into Wong Stadium.
Most of the conferees arrived this weekend. Those who arrived last week said they were impressed with the Hawaiian hospitality. Robert Jackson of Sydney, Australia, arrived last Wednesday and said he was "absolutely devoured" by the professionalism and support of Hawaii residents to the tourism industry.
By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
The voyaging canoe Makalii helps welcome
dignitaries to Hilo yesterday.
It is a big difference from Sydney, where Jackson is general manager of the National Aboriginal & Islander Skills Development Association."The service is extraordinarily good," he said. "Its been great."
Jackson was among 100 who attended the Coolongatta Statement workshops. He believes if indigenous people worldwide can collectively define education, they will define their autonomy.
"The difficulty is convincing government that that's the way we ought to do it," Jackson said.
Morgan described the Coolongatta Statement as a shift in paradigm about how people think about education. While the Western model of education has failed many aboriginal people, many others still succeed.
The reason? The aboriginal children he studied showed a thirst for knowledge because they know what they are but not who they are, he said.
To assist them, native people need to their either open wider doors to Western education or create an indigenous system that parallels the Western demand on education, he said.
"There is absolutely nothing wrong with indigenous intellect," Morgan said.
Conferee Paul Hughes, a member of the 1993 task force who has been involved in indigenous education in South Australia for 30 years, said conference delegates must decide what to do with the statement.
Hughes said the Coolongatta Statment should be something that can be applied at the international level for philosophical debates on indigenous education, while at the same time it can be used by aboriginal educators in the field to back up their positions on how native education should be taught in their school systems.
The statement will be presented to all the delegates today. They will get a chance to sign off on the document this week. Organizers will announce on Friday whether it was endorsed by the conference majority.
Meanwhile, conference Co-Chairwoman Pualani Kanaka'ole Kanahele urged delegates to stay focused on the conference workshops. She said native education is an important part of who they are and there is much work ahead this week.
