Atayal residents in Taichung’s Heping District (和平) and students at Municipal Daguan Elementary School have voted to rename the school P’uma (heritage) in the Atayal language, in anticipation of its conversion into the nation’s first Aboriginal experimental elementary school, principal Pilin Yapu said on Tuesday.
The school is scheduled to be converted into an experimental school in August and it organized a public vote to involve the Atayal community, with the local government expected to approve the name change before the school reopens, he said.
Yapu said the poll was held from Friday last week to Sunday, with 90 percent of the votes cast online by Atayal residents and at the school by the students, while 10 percent were cast by other Internet users.
Photo: courtesy of Municipal Daguan Elementary School principal Pilin Yapu
The result was announced on Monday.
P’uma, one of the three choices on the ballot, was chosen by 64.31 percent of voters, defeating Khu (grain barn) and Penuh (a Daan River tributary).
Yapu said that in the Atayal language, P’uma also signifies “to grow” or “to pass the torch,” and is traditionally uttered when children cry, when a lit tobacco pipe is about to go out or when it is time to rake the fireplace, which he considers fitting for an Aboriginal experimental school dedicated to preserving Aboriginal culture.
Taichung Education Bureau Director-General Peng Fu-yuan (彭富源) said that while there are no clear regulations on renaming public schools, his department supports the change because an Aboriginal experimental school needs a name that is meaningful to the Aboriginal community and in the language of the people it serves.
Precedents for the renaming include Kaohsiung’s Municipal Namaxia Middle School, known as Kaohsiung County Sanmin Middle School until 2001, when the merging of two school districts resulted in two schools having the same name.
The school adopted its new name in April 2003 after local residents chose it in a poll.
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