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October 30, 2024
International literacy award honors reo Māori revitalisation
Atereano Mateariki
Posted On October 30, 2024
Download AudioTe Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori o Aotearoa received a prestigious international award for its work reviving the Māori language through school resources.
The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., recently hosted the 2024 Literacy Awards, which have honoured organizations worldwide for promoting literacy since 2014.
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori received the Kislak Family Foundation Prize of USD 100,000 for organizations with a significant impact on literacy, whether based inside or outside the U.S., considering their size and years of operation.
Hohepa Campbell says the award honours those who founded Kura Kaupapa Māori schools in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, recognizing their vision and dedication to language revitalisation.
“Hoani Waititi whānau 40 years ago, there was a time when they had to block the road so that the police wouldn’t come and get their tamariki from the kura, because everyone wanted those tamariki to go to the mainstream schools. So this is an award about the hard work whānau and kaumātua have had to endure over the years to see the success and the success that we can now see,” says Campbell.
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