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The Chief Executive of the Construction Industry Training Organisation is welcoming a boost for Māori trade training.
But Ruma Karaitiana says it needs to be part of a larger development strategy.
This week’s budget will include an extra $43 million over four years to expand Māori and Pasifika Trades Training to 3000 places, and another $4 million for the Māori Affairs cadetship programme.
Mr Karaitiana says Māori are already an important part of the construction industry.
"They’re considered to be hard workers and skilled tradesmen. A lot of that comes from the residual effects we have from the Māori trades training programmes but most of the people who went through that programme are retired or in the process of retiring. I do think that alongside the focus on young people and trying to get them qualifications in to pre-trade programmes so employers will look at them favourably, then into apprenticeships and changing whole communities,” he says.
Ruma Karaitiana says while the number of Māori in training is increasing, their completion rates still lag behind non-Māori.
Copyright © 2013, Uma Broadcasting Ltd
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