Maoris criticise education reform

Press, 7 October 1988, Page 34

Maoris criticise education reform

PA Wellington The new education administration system was supposed to be more responsive to community needs but its introduction is already proving to be monocultural and bureaucratic, Maori people have said. At a seminar on Maori perspectives on the Picot report, they criticised the lack of a Maori working party among the 19 working parties implementing the fine detail of the reform, “Tomorrow’s Schools.” A Picot task force member, Mrs Whetu Wereta, was among several who expressed disappointment at the lack of such a working party. A Maori officer for the Post-Primary Teachers’ Association, Mr Ken Mair, said Maori people were still vulnerable to the whim of pakeha procpwes .

In urban areas, Maori people were in the minority and so would remain powerless on groups such as boards of trustees, which would run schools, and parent-advocacy councils, he said. Charters to define the purpose of each institution were supposed to be representative of the community the institution served; he asked whether the drawing up of those charters was really going to involve community participation.

While the report gave the option for people dissatisfied with the school system to set up their own schools, experience with kohanga reo (language nests) made him doubt whether they would have enough money to work properly. Kohanga reo were given funding for each nre-school child

was supposed to be used for a variety of things including salaries, maintenance and resources but the money provided was only enough to cover salaries, he said.

“We will remain quite powerless in the education system,” Mr Mair said.

Mrs Wereta said the main wish of Maori people was to have their children educated bilingually. They felt it was imperative for their children to learn their own language, but also to be educated for the pakeha world. The Picot task force had taken the view that the education system should be responsive to all groups in the community, she said. Other speakers suggested this view was not being echoed in implementation.