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Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says more resources will be put into schools to tackle truancy.
The Labour Party leader visited Wainuiomata High School yesterday to check the progress of its $67 million redevelopment.
A new cultural precinct opened in March including a wharekai, technology and arts hubs, and two out of three classroom blocks are set to be completed soon.
Mr Hipkins says the redevelopment is a great example of the Government’s commitment to investing in schools so that young people have warm, dry and fit for purpose spaces to learn in.
“We are focused on getting kids back to school. As a Government we’ve significantly increased the funding to our truancy services. We’re also focused on putting resources directly into schools so they can work with whānau whose kids are persistently absent and getting kids back engaged in learning,” he says.
Mr Hipkins also paid tribute to former principal Janette Melrose, who died last month after retiring in July with a terminal illness.
Ms Melrose used innovative ways to get her tauira back to school after Covid-19 including having respected community members picking them up from home in the mornings, and bringing in celebrities to motivate students.
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