Leififi College’s Year 13 students held an ava ceremony at the school compound at Malifa on Wednesday as part of their internal assessment.

The college’s Samoa department coordinator Neru Leifi said the goal of the ceremony is to ensure the students familiarise themselves with Samoan cultures through their actions.

“As of this morning, we have given a task in providing an ava ceremony as part of their internal assessment by the students, meaning we walk the talk through actions and words,” he said.

“We have provided everything, even the customs and items, it’s a great chance for the students to see it themselves of how the ava ceremony takes place within a village or church, also the students know exactly where to be sited and the words that are used are very important.”

The cultural event on Wednesday will also assist teachers, says Mr Leifi in terms of how to deliver the message to the students so that they understand especially the culture.

Every school has its own culture day activities and it’s a great event for the students to showcase the importance of the Samoan culture in their everyday life also prepare them in the future because our culture is something that we continue to pursue for the students,” he added.

“We are trying our best to uphold our culture, our values we all know that our very own language is used as our second language but that doesn’t stop us from promoting our culture to our students.”

According to Mr Leifi the number of students who passed the Gagana Samoa exams at the Leififi College had reached 90 per cent every year.

‘’Activities like culture days and others lead to great results from the students when they have their final examination every year and it’s a successful outcome that we had expected.” 

The events were attended by parents and teachers of the college’s Samoa department.