Give school to Maori, rebels insist

A Northland school which is operating illegally wants the Government to return the school land to Maori.

Orauta School, near Moerewa, has been operating without official registration since last Tuesday despite parents being warned they could face prosecution for sending their children there .

The rural school - now called Te Kura Kaupapa Maori O Te Maara O Hineamaru Ki Orauta - was ordered to close by the Government (with seven other Northland primary schools) to "unlock" extra resources for other Northland schools.

More than 20 children attend the school. Last year it had 30 students on its roll.

The Ministry of Education said the school could not operate on Crown land, prompting the incorporation running the facility to ask for the Maori land it was built on to be returned to its owners.

The Maunga Hikurangi Maori Incorporation, which runs the school, has ordered the "Ministry of the New Zealand Company of Parliament" to "quit and give up possession to the Lands" through the Te Kooti Paramata Maori Court in Waitangi so the school can continue to run.

The incorporation said its claim was based on the fact that under the Treaty of Waitangi's Maori version, Maori practices, laws and customs "remain undisturbed".

A spokesman for Associate Education Minister David Benson-Pope said the document was considered to have no legal status and would be disregarded.

The ministry wanted to resolve the issue by negotiation.

- NZPA