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Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis says funding in this year's Māori Budget package to build and expand schools delivering Māori medium education will ensure more ākonga can learn not just in immersion but learn in safe, dry, comfortable classrooms.
He says schools teaching in reo Māori tend to be smaller, or in more rural communities, and they have often missed out on funding to fast-growing and bigger schools in city centres.
Today's announcement includes $77 million in new capital and provides:
$18.9 million for Te Pūtahi Māori o Manurewa, a campus that will house both Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Manurewa and Te Wharekura o Manurewa. This is on top of $24 million announced by the previous Government.
A further $11.6 million for Manukura, a special character school in Palmerston North, which will deliver an additional 100 student places.
$17.1 million for Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Wānanga Whare Tapere o Takitimu, increasing the school's capacity by a further 120 student places;
and $29.4 million for roll growth classrooms at existing Māori medium schools, delivering around 550 additional student places .
Māori Ministers visited the future site of Te Pūtahi Māori o Manurewa this morning.
Mr Davis says the number of school-aged Māori students learning or wanting to learn in Māori is growing, and kura and Māori medium schools are a vital part of the education system.
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