June 17, 2013
Kelston karakia creating culture clash
Associate Education Minister and Māori Party Co-leader Pita Sharples has lashed out at Kelston Intermediate teachers who object to karakia before class.
The teachers have asked their union NZEI to intervene.
Dr Sharples says a lot of Māori and Pasifika children attend Kelston Intermediate, and the school’s culture should reflect the community, and the whānau who send their children there.
He says karakia is a vital part of the Māori lifestyle and it is consistent with the objectives in the New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga ō Aotearoa that student learn the values on which New Zealand’s cultural and institutional traditions are based.
Dr Sharples says no-one is asking teachers to change their spiritual or religious beliefs, but classrooms need to be a safe place for all kids, and cultural safety is part of that picture.
Māori education advocacy group Ngā Kaikokiri Mātauranga says it is concerned that Maori pupils at Kelston Intermediate may not be safe being Māori because of the objection to the prayer.
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