Hard times for kohanga reo

Press, 24 October 1984, Page 9

Hard times for kohanga reo

Starting up a kohanga reo pre-school programme is not as easy as it used to be — mothers from one Christchurch group went out cleaning so that they could open the group’s bank account, according to the president of Kohanga Reo Rehua, Mrs Evonne Berryman.

Mrs Berryman said that the Government’s axing of the establishment grant for the pre-school Maori language nests had brought hard times for the new groups. The established groups were not finding funding such a problem she said. The senior community officer in the Maori Affairs Department, Mrs Hairiroa Daymond, is confident that the new groups will

“I am sure that the mums will pull together. Whether we get funding or not, they will find a way to make it work,” Mrs Daymond said. “We do' not need masses of teaching equipment. We use practical teaching aids, such as a song, rather than toys.”

It is hoped that the new training programme for leaders will help the funding problem.

Under the programme, the leaders will undertake a two-year course and will be paid by the Labour Department.

Mrs Berryman said that this would take some of the financial strain off the kohanga reo as they had been paying the leader’s wages.