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April 20, 2022
Davis frustrated at hardline education stance
Adam Gifford
Posted On April 20, 2022
Download AudioAssociate Education Minister Kelvin Davis has expressed frustration at the activities of the core te reo Māori education bodies.
Te Rūnanga o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori o Aotearoa has agreed to enter mediation for its claim, after breaking off discussions with the minister over its insistence it should first air its grievances before the Waitangi Tribunal.
Mr Davis says he wants to triple the number of tamariki going through Māori medium education, so when the groups in the Te Matakahuki collective refused his offer to let them write the strategy, he set up a new advisory group chaired by Wayne Ngata, Te Pae Roa.
He says the kaupapa of te reo in the classroom is greater than those organisations.
“The kaupapa still has to go on. How do we get all those taitamariki who are at present in mainstream education into kaupapa Māori education? I said to them ‘you can hold the pen.’ They said ‘we don’t want any part of the minister’s agenda.’ You can’t do any more than that. Hence my total frustration with them,” Mr Davis says.
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