Reported in an article by the ABC, the Nawarddeken Academy, a bilingual and bi-cultural school in the remote Warddeken Indigenous Protected Area located in the Northern Territory, has succeeded in registering an additional two schools in the outstations of Manmoyi and Mamardawerre.
The registration of all three schools was supported by the Karrkad Kanjdji Trust and Warddeken Land Management in response to years of the communities expressing their long-held desire for full-time, bi-cultural education on Country.
“In the stone country of west Arnhem Land, in the remote Northern Territory, two remote homelands have realised their dreams of educational independence.
Traditional owners who have been locked in a decades-long struggle to gain more control of education for their children celebrated the registration of independent schools at the outstations of Manmoyi and Mamadawerre on Wednesday.
The celebrations were held in the outstation of Kabulwarnamyo, 530 kilometres east of Darwin, where the community school has been held up as a beacon of remote education, delivering high student engagement and school attendances averaging 90 per cent while in community.”
You can read the full article on the ABC here and if you would like to contact the team at KKT, email mail@kkt.org.au
The opening of the new Nawarddeken Academy schools was also attended by The Honorable Jason Clare, Federal Minister for Education. The Minister spoke at the event and his speech is also available online.
“Living in two worlds isn’t easy, two worlds of Bininj and Balanda.
But what we see today, and what we will see in the classrooms in a few moments time, are that what this school is doing is making that a reality – a “two toolbox education”.
Where children learn the culture of their ancestors and an education gives them the opportunities of the world.”
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Kuwarddewardde Malkno
(Stone Country Seasonal Calendar)
The Kuwarddewardde Malkno is a foundational teaching resource for the Nawarddeken Academy, through which the Australian and Indigenous Language and Culture curriculums are contextualised to the seasons and culture of the Nawarddeken people.
