September 04, 2020
No credit in racist education system
A Māori education consultant says the latest COVID-19 lockdown has brought inequities in the school system into sharp focus.
The University of Auckland has put out guidance that because of the problems in administering coursework and exams this year, it won’t require next year’s intake to have passed University Entrance.
Whetu Cormick, the past president of the Principal’s Federation, says while the Education ministry has worked hard this year to help schools with online learning, many tauira still missed out on hard packs, modems or laptops.
Many students in the leafy suburbs were able to continue studying in a relatively normal way during the second lockdown, with some elite schools even opening classrooms earlier, but it was a lot tougher in south Auckland.
"Our Ministry of Education and in particular our Minister need to be thinking more flexibly about how our young people in high school get their credits. It just really raised the inequities in our system and let's say the racism that exists in Aotearoa for people of colour, Māori and Pasifika," Mr Cormick says.
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