Marae 'school' parents warned

The parents of children at a makeshift school on a marae at Raupunga in Hawkes Bay face $1000 fines for refusing to send their children to proper schools.

The Education Ministry is prosecuting the parents after repeatedly warning them they have been breaking the law since January 26 by sending their children to an unregistered, unauthorised Maori-language school set up at Te Huki Marae.

The marae is next to Raupunga School, which closed and merged with Mohaka School last year.

A spokesman for the school organisers, Wi Derek Huata, said the marae "school" had 24 children on the roll, a qualified Maori teacher happy to be paid through fundraising, and a mandate to establish a full-immersion kura kaupapa (Maori language school) for Raupunga.

Families from Hastings and Wairoa would move to the township, about half-way between Wairoa and Napier, so their children could attend it, he said.

Vowing to fight for full registration and taxpayer funding for the school, Mr Huata said he expected the ministry would eventually hand over the old Raupunga School buildings to the group.

But the ministry's acting operational policy manager Derek Miller said the children at the marae were not necessarily getting proper schooling, and the ministry wanted them moved to proper schools as soon as possible.

"The children are attending an illegal, unregistered school and therefore the quality of their education cannot be guaranteed," Mr Miller said.

The group running the marae classes had been asked by the Te Huki marae committee to pack up and leave, but had stayed put, Mr Miller said.

And despite claiming to have 24 children on the roll, they had fewer than 12.

The parents had been told in writing they were required by law to enrol their children in a registered school and Mr Huata and his supporters had been told the marae school was illegal.

On March 14 and 15, the ministry wrote to them again, saying they had seven days to get the children enrolled at proper schools.

There was no response from the parents or Mr Huata's group, so the ministry had asked the Crown Solicitor in Napier, Russell Collins, to begin court proceedings.

- NZPA