Government policy won’t stop our kids embracing te reo Māori – Editorial

Students from Whangārei Girls High School led Whangārei's first Te Wiki o te Reo Māori parade in 2018. Photo / Michael Cunningham

EDITORIAL

The Government’s decision to cut funding for Māori teacher training in favour of more maths resources has sparked fear about the impact it’ll have on our kids learning te reo Māori.

Teacher unions have slammed the move, students have voiced their outrage, and the Māori Language Commission has called it “a step backwards”.

But one thing more powerful than anything politicians can devise is a cultural movement being driven by younger generations.

Kiwi kids are learning and embracing te ao Māori like never before – and they’re going to demand to be taught the language.

Education Minister Erica Stanford last week announced $30 million in funding had been shifted from the Te Ahu o te Reo Māori programme – which provides te reo Māori lessons to school teachers – to a fund providing mathematics resources for students.

The Public Service Association (PSA) called the move “another devastating attack on Māori”.

“We need more Māori teachers to inspire our young ones and to reinforce the importance and future of learning te reo Māori,” said PSA te kaihautū (leader) Māori Janice Panoho.

“Māori will not stand by while our language and our identity are diminished.”

Ākonga Māori (Māori students) from Te Kura Kōhine o te Rāwhiti o te Upoko o te Ika/Wellington East Girls’ College expressed their anger in a “protest letter” to Stanford.

“If we don’t have teachers speak te reo Māori, then we won’t learn te reo Māori, because our parents didn’t get a chance to learn,” they said.

“Us kids won’t know where we are from if we don’t learn the language.”

The Māori Language Commission called it “a step backwards”.

Professor Rawinia Higgins, Te Taura Whiri i te reo Māori Board chair, said more analysis could have been done regarding the Government’s overarching plan for language revitalisation, which was to reach one million Māori speakers by 2040.

It’s clear a lot more work is needed if we are to reach that ambitious goal within the next 16 years. And the decision to shift funding from te reo Māori to maths is unlikely to help.

But it won’t crush what’s already begun.

One only has to look at what played out at Auckland’s Eden Park on Sunday night, when more than 6500 people joined forces to set a new world record for the largest haka, to see the passion and pride.

Speaking at the event, cultural ambassador for HAKA, Dame Hinewehi Mohi, DNZM (Ngāti Kahungunu/Ngāi Tūhoe), said haka was “a powerful statement of national pride, cultural heritage, unity”.

“Haka is a unique symbol of Aotearoa, it is undeniably ours and it is recognised and revered around the world.”

Matariki is now celebrated with an official holiday and its story and lessons are taught in classrooms up and down the country. Disney has just released Encanto Reo Māori, its fifth film translated into te reo Māori.

Te ao Māori is being embraced in our children’s favourite spaces – the sports field, the screen, storybooks. The myths and legends speak to a child’s thirst for imagination and wonder. It’s shaping their understanding of the world around them, and of their place in that world.

This cultural rebirth doesn’t replace the value of what a teacher can impart in a classroom, but scrapping this programme will not diminish a revitalisation already under way.

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