Close to 200 gathered yesterday at the National Sports Arena in Nikao as the Cook Islands Education Symposium kickstarted, uniting key groups including students, educators, government and ministry leaders, community members as well as language and cultural experts.

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Tingika Elikana, who attended on behalf of the Minister of Education, Vaine “Mac” Mokoroa, declared the symposium officially opened.

The four-day event was opened with a turou to welcome the key guests, before it got down to business where experts presented around the theme “Rebuilding our future: Language, Culture, and Identity in Cook Islands Education”.

“For our friends who came from over the shores, welcome home. It’s very fitting that you’re here. Many moons ago we sent you away because we were getting old in life and we thought we would stay back and look after our islands,” Elikana said. “We sent you away and it’s comforting for me to stand up here and welcome you home. As I said in Pukapukan, you’re not here as visitors or foreigners, but you’re here as people of this island.”

“And I’m very thankful for you taking out the time to be here with us, to show us what you have learned. Whether it was worth the time when we sent you ... because there are people here who think that we send people for scholarships to learn from overseas but some of them stay back.”

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tingika Elikana, declared the symposium officially opened yesterday. TALAIA MIKA/25050517

Yesterday’s objective was to explore how indigenous knowledge, language and storytelling can shape innovative, future-focused education systems.

Participants were challenged to reimagine schooling models that reflect the unique cultural heritage of the Cook Islands – including the establishment of immersion of heritage-based schools grounded in indigenous worldviews.

These models must not only revitalise identity, language and cultural practice but also prepare students to qualifications such as National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA), ensuring both cultural integrity and future opportunity.

The first keynote speaker was Ian Taylor, an artificial intelligence (AI) expert from New Zealand, who explored how indigenous knowledge systems can be honoured, preserved and reimagined through new digital platforms, including AI and online tools.

His keynote address showed how innovation and technology when driven by cultural values, can become powerful vehicles for education – connecting younger generations to ancestral wisdom in future-facing formats.

This approach offers potential for Cook Islands immersion models enabling learners to engage with local reo, culture and knowledge in ways that are dynamic, accessible and scalable across the islands and diaspora.

Hilda Halkyard-Harawira, the second speaker, shared her personal journey and lived experience in the Maori education movement, including the establishment and growth of kōhanga reo and kura Kaupapa Maori.

Her keynote explored how community-led, immersion-based schooling can restore language, identity and pride – and what lessons the Cook Islands might draw as the country consider heritage-based education models rooted in its own reo, values and cultural foundations.

Minister Elikana urged the gathering to be humble in their actions, to learn from one another and to refine the direction of these important symposiums.

Each of the four days have its own themes: Day 1 – Reconnecting with our past and built the future, Day 2 – Bridging Generations – Diaspora and Connection, Day 3 – Shaping our future from our cultural core, and Day 4 – Designing and committing to a dual-pathway future.