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February 09, 2022
Parallel path for Māori education plan rejected
Adam Gifford
Posted On February 9, 2022
Download AudioAssociate Education Minister Kelvin Davis says kura kaupapa Māori didn’t need to go to the Waitangi Tribunal to get change.
Te Rūnanganui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa wants an urgent hearing on its claim the government hasn’t given the 63 kura the resources they are entitled to.
Mr Davis says before the election he sat down with te rūnanganui and other Māori education core bodies and proposed they work with him to write a new Māori education bill.
He shared his vision of tripling the number of tamariki going into Māori medium education, including creating another 250 kura and training 3500 kaiako.
The offer was turned down.
“Before I even knew they were going to the Waitangi Tribunal I has offered them basically everything they wanted. They did say to me the answer’s no because they did want to go to the tribunal. I said ‘go to the tribunal, knock yourself out, but why don’t we have this parallel pathway, start the planning for these extra 40,000 Māori tamariki by 2040?’ and they said ‘no, we don’t want any part of it,'” Mr Davis says.
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