[lg policy] New Zealand: Push to make reo available

[Harold Schiffman]

Push to make reo available

Thursday 10th November, 2011

Waiariki MP Te Ururoa Flavell says the Maori Party's language policy
is about giving young Maori their birthright.
The party wants to make it compulsory for all schools to offer Maori
language lessons, though it's not compulsory for students to take
them. It's proposing funding for professional development and
scholarships to ensure there are enough teachers to meet the demand.

Mr Flavell says there has been a long standing call for the language
to be available to all Maori students who wish to take it. “It's just
building on that momentum and we’ve got to do something. The research
tells us Maori kids developing knowledge and understanding of their
language in the first instance sets them right in terms of their
success in the education system and now we have to take the education
system by the scruff of the neck to address the under-achievement of
Maori students,” he says.

Mr Flavell says it's a national disgrace that more than half of all
Maori boys and girls are still leaving school without NCEA level 1.

http://www.waatea603am.co.nz/News/2011/November/Push-to-make-reo-available

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