April 16, 2015
Reo lessons would improve race relations
Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox has welcomed a call from Labour leader Andrew Little to make Maori a compulsory subject in primary schools.
Mr Little says te reo Maori is an important part of the cultural landscape that every New Zealander should be participating in.
Ms Fox says that seems an advance on Labour’s pre-election stance, when a call from Hauraki Waikato MP Nanaia Mahuta for compulsory reo classes was quickly dialed back to making it compulsorily available.
She says it’s not just about learning a language.
"I think it would go a long way to restoring some of the equilibrium in this country around recognising the rights of Maori, understanding our combined history and our pre-European history and eliminating some of that institutionalised racism through the mere fact that we understand one another from each other's perspective and not from a one way street of Eruocentric representation for our tamariki," Ms Fox says.
FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH MARAMA FOX CLICK ON THE LINK
https://secure.zeald.com/uma/play_podcast?podlink=MjgxNjA=
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