Parata: Girls doing well in education

Minister of Education Hekia Parata visits the Onerahi Kindergarten. Photo / Michael Cunningham

More than 80 per cent of Kiwi girls left school with a qualification last year, provisional figures released today show.

Education Minister Hekia Parata released the statistics showing girls educational achievement to mark International Women's Day.

"In 2012, around 80 per cent of female school leavers - around 26,776 students - achieved at least NCEA 2, and provisional results suggest that the proportion will be even higher in 2013," she said.

"More than half of our young women achieved university entrance in 2012, a 5.2 per cent increase over the previous year."

Ms Parata said the rise in higher levels of qualifications among girls has grown as they become greater contributors to society.

Reporting against National Standards has also shown evidence of incremental improvement between 2011 and 2012, by girls, in reading, writing and maths, with around 80 per cent of all girls at or above standard for reading; and around 75 per cent for maths and writing.

"These results reflect the great work being done in our schools, in communities and in homes to raise student achievement," Ms Parata said.

"It is important that we all - parents, schools and local communities - keep up the momentum so that even more young people, both female and male, can succeed in education."