Maori school supported

Press, 24 August 1988, Page 1

Maori school supported

By

JANE ENGLAND

Support for a school providing education for Maori children was yesterday expressed by specialists in linguistics, education and the Maori community. They were reacting to a suggestion by the principal of Christchurch Teachers College, Dr Colin Knight, that schools solely for Maori children represented apartheid. The Christchurch Polytechnic spokesman for the Maori division, Mr Hohua Tutengaehe, said the polytechnic supported the principles and values of the school, Te Kura Whakapumau I

Te Reo Maori, at Te Rangimarie centre in Christchurch. Any suggestion of apartheid was “well off the mark,” he said. “If the Maori language is not rescued it dies. That language, that knowledge, gives our children pride, dignity and confidence. It leaves them bubbling with life.” Professor G. D. Kennedy, a professor in applied linguistics at Victoria University of Wellington, said overseas studies had proved that children who were educated , in their native culture and language performed better in education.

Children attending a special Maori school could gain from that education, he ■;said. “I have every confidence that a child who is taught initially in Maori would be better off. I am starting with that assumption Land until proved otherwise it is - a position I will hold.” ’ The regional director "of the • Maori Affairs Department, Mr I Bill Edwards, and the recently J ■ appointed cultural adviser for : the South Island, Mr Hapi Winii ata, supported the school and I taha Maori initiatives. i The school’s convener, Mrs I Tihi Puanaki, was a cultural

leader and a person of substance who cared deeply for the community she worked within, said Mr Edwards. “She is not an irrational Leftie.” Mr Winiata said the department. supported the culture through the State school and ; and private school system. The Education Department’s regional superintendent, Ms Noelene Macdonald, said it was keen to help communities develop the possibility of continuing the Maori language after kohanga reo — “if that is what the community wants.” .