Mr. Maruo's visit to Sogeri National High School and attendance in the graduation ceremony
2021/10/18
On Friday, 15 October, Mr. Shinichi Maruo, Deputy Chief of Mission, Counsellor, of the Japanese Embassy, visited Sogeri National High School(SNHS) and attended the 51st Grade12 Graduation Ceremony.
With the donation by the students and school staff of SNHS to Sendai Ikuei Gakuen High School in Japan on occasion of the East Japan Big Earthquake in 2011, SNHS has developed strong relations with Sendai Ikuei Gakuen and Japan.
At SNHS, the Japanese language classes are held under the COVID-19 situation while Japanese staff left the school, and this July, the Japanese language proficiency test was held at SNHS, which was for the first time in history in the Melanesian region.
In his keynote speech as the chief guest, Mr. Maruo mentioned His Excellency former Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare as one of the graduates of SNHS, who aimed at nation building with Japan as the model country. He also said that the relationship between Japan and PNG is reciprocal. Japan has actively engaged in its support to PNG through the official development aid (ODA) and the incumbent Japanese Prime Minister visited PNG twice in 2014 and 2018. He hopes that one of the graduates who he addressed will be the future Prime Minister of PNG and the graduates who attended on this day have chance to visit Japan as a Monbukagakusho scholarship student.
Currently, PNG is experiencing the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ceremony was held with the reduced size of the audience, with the relatives of the graduates observing the ceremony from the outside. The ceremony was held with the pandemic measures of mask wearing and setting up hand sanitization at many places in the school.
With the donation by the students and school staff of SNHS to Sendai Ikuei Gakuen High School in Japan on occasion of the East Japan Big Earthquake in 2011, SNHS has developed strong relations with Sendai Ikuei Gakuen and Japan.
At SNHS, the Japanese language classes are held under the COVID-19 situation while Japanese staff left the school, and this July, the Japanese language proficiency test was held at SNHS, which was for the first time in history in the Melanesian region.
In his keynote speech as the chief guest, Mr. Maruo mentioned His Excellency former Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare as one of the graduates of SNHS, who aimed at nation building with Japan as the model country. He also said that the relationship between Japan and PNG is reciprocal. Japan has actively engaged in its support to PNG through the official development aid (ODA) and the incumbent Japanese Prime Minister visited PNG twice in 2014 and 2018. He hopes that one of the graduates who he addressed will be the future Prime Minister of PNG and the graduates who attended on this day have chance to visit Japan as a Monbukagakusho scholarship student.
Currently, PNG is experiencing the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ceremony was held with the reduced size of the audience, with the relatives of the graduates observing the ceremony from the outside. The ceremony was held with the pandemic measures of mask wearing and setting up hand sanitization at many places in the school.