The students and staff of Kopkop College in Port Moresby celebrated National Women’s Day last week Thursday under the theme; “Gender Equality today for a Sustainable tomorrow.”
Students from Grade 1 to 12 each presented an item based on the theme of the event including a drama, debate, dances and songs.
The day itself portrayed the significance and importance of women and girls in a society and for a country like PNG where most societies are male dominated, the students celebrated and portrayed how important the role of a woman.
Zachary Samol, a grade 11 student, said that celebrating the day itself is important as it helps vocalize the message that the students are trying to bring across and that is mainly to break all bias mindsets and cultural differences.
“Celebrating the day will have an immense positive impact if it’s being practiced more on the value of women and to see that everyone should be treated as equal.”
“Let’s put ourselves in each other’s shoes, feel and think how the opposite gender would feel if we were to do something that was going to hurt them. How would you feel? The purpose of celebrating this day is to acknowledge and valuing women in our society and to treat each other as equals.”
Another student also had something similar to say.
Guy Kitoro who is a Grade 12 science student, said that celebrating National Women’s Day really helps young people at this level so that they are taught and can be able to better understand the importance and value of women and the impact they can have on the society.
“Teaching and celebrating National Women’s Day at the school level is an advantage to change the mindset of youths when it comes to Gender Equality and to break the Bias.”
Issues such as culture, sexual harassment and gender equality were the main highlights of the event that were portrayed and showcased by the students in getting the message across as these are real trending issues that occur almost every day in the country.