March 18, 2014
Maori drop out rate alarms Parata
Education Minister Hekia Parata says more needs to be done to stop Maori kids dropping out of school before they sit the National Certificate in Educational Achievement.
Ms Parata says when National came in to Government fewer than one Maori in two was leaving school with NCEA level 2.
In the past five years the Maori pass rate has climbed from 44 to 58 percent.
But she says that still leaves many without the qualifications they need for a good start in life.
"Almost a third of our kids drop out before they even sit NCEA 1, so around 15 or 16 a third of our kids are dropping out of school for one reason or another, yet we know if we get them through NCEA 1, they are more likely to get NCEA 2. So the data tells us much more about what we need to do, where we need to do it and how we need to do it," she says.
Ms Parata says she’s also putting a lot of effort into getting Maori and Pacific Island children into early childhood education.
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