October 21, 2013
Kohanga review starts
Education Minister Hekia Parata wants the public to be assured that Kohanga Reo has made proper use of the money given to it.
Accounting firm Ernst and Young has started a review of the public funding to Te Kohanga Reo National Trust Board, with the report expected mid-December.
It comes after Maori Television revealed details of credit card spending by Dame Iritana Tawhiwhirangi and her daughter in law Lynda Tawhiwhirangi, the managers of the trust’s commercial subsidiary Te Pataka Ohanga.
She says just over $90 million of public money is put into kohanga each year, and any doubts raised in the public mind need to be settled.
"There are over 470 kohanga operating around the country, they serve just under 9000 of our tamariki mokopuna, that is about a fifth of all Maori early childhood enrolments, and it is important we support and strengthen those kohanga because we need all of our babies, infants, toddlers, children having a good quality early childhood experience and of course it is important for the transmission of te reo, so we don’t want this cloud settling over them, we want it shifted, dealt with, resolved, so we can move on," Ms Parata says.
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