September 05, 2018
Stick with reo strategy says Kōrako
NUK KORAKO INTERVIEW CLICK HERE
National’s Māori spokesperson Nuk Kōrako says there are practical reasons for not making te reo Māori a core subject.
On the eve of Māori language week, his leader Simon Bridges has drawn a line in the sand that he would never accept Māori being compulsory in schools.
Mr Kōrako says there are not the teachers and infrastructure to have every school teaching Māori.
It could also spark a backlash.
"if you actually use a patu or make it compulsory to learn te reo then you're going to get an immediate backlash and we know this, we see this in other things Māori. But if it continues along the pathway of these strategies under the Māori Language Act of 2016 we put in place, I think it has a real opportunity to keep this thing moving," he says.
Mr Kōrako says the previous National Government did more than any other for the te reo Māori, and the current Government needs to get moving and come up with the crown strategy required by the 2016 Act.
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