Maori leaders speak out against system

Press, 14 August 1984, Page 13

Maori leaders speak out against system

PA Auckland The education system is elitist, impersonal, and uncaring of minority groups, according to a survey among Maori leaders. Three school principals, a Manukau City Councillor, university lecturers, members of Parliament, and a retired school inspector were among those dissatisfied with the way Maori children’s needs were being met.

The Citizens’ Association for Racial Equality (C.A.R.E.) decided in July to assess Maori discontent with the education system by the poll. Of the 55 who replied, all but one were unhappy and felt that existing school programmes did not do justice to Maori children. Mr Rawiri Paratene, a Maori actor, director and producer, said, “I am angered by the persistence of the education system in completely ignoring Maori needs, views, and values.” The Nga Tapuwae College community' department’s director, Mrs Miraka

Szaszy, the first Maori “Miss New Zealand,” also expressed strong dissatisfaction.

“One has to be deaf, dumb, or blind to interpret the fact that 69 per cent of Maori children leave school with no qualifications or Sets of getting a job as tig other than the failure of the New Zealand education system,” she said.

Several teachers blamed schools rather than the children who failed, including the senior mistress of Central Hawke’s Bay College, Mrs Tipene-Leach. “The system is elitist, over-concerned with the teaching of academics, mono-cultural, impersonal, and uncaring of minority groups or minority opinions,” Mrs Tipene-Leach said. Others criticised the School Certificate examination, saying that it disadvantaged those taking Maori and forced pupils into a meaningless ranking hierarchy. The senior mistress of

Huntly College, Mrs Erana Coulter, who was killed in a car crash last month, had said that people did not want change or any part of taha Maori (the Maori dimension). Others unhappy with the education system included the Minister of Maori Affairs, Mr Wetere; Wellington High School’s principal, Mr Turoa Royal; and a retired school inspector from Auckland, Mr Vernon Penfold.

C.A.R.E.’s secretary, Mr lan Mitchell, said that copies of the survey would be distributed. He called for “urgent, radical, and immediate change.” The infusion of Maori culture and language into school was a beginning, he said, but the talents of thousands of Maori children were still being wasted. C.A.R.E. supported remits formulated at a Maori educational development conference in March, which called for Maoris to have 25 per cent of the education vote and for the School Certificate examination to be abolished.