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A $4.5 million fund has been set up to help schools deal with disruptive students.
Education Minister Steve Maharey said the Interim Response Fund gave principals access to emergency funding to manage critical behaviour cases.
"The emergency fund is used when existing school-based resources have been exhausted and is now available to schools throughout New Zealand," he said.
Mr Maharey said the fund would encourage schools to keep difficult students at school with proper support for teachers.
"The fund gives breathing space for an intervention plan to be drawn up for disruptive students. For example, the money can be used to pay for a teacher aide to assist with a challenging student."
Five applications in two regions have already had applications approved.
New Zealand First MP Brian Donnelly warned the fund would be useless if there was too much bureaucracy.
To get funding schools have to apply, develop a plan to deal with the situation and report on outcomes.
"Any delays in these processes created by paper shuffling will mean the scheme will fail," Mr Donnelly said.
The fund would provide $1 million this year, $1.5m in 2008 and $2m a year from 2009.
The fund comes out of $9.5m over four years from last year's budget tagged to help schools tackle disruptive behaviour.
In September last year the primary teachers union said children as young as five were exhibiting disturbing and dangerous patterns of behaviour which teachers and staff were finding increasingly difficult to deal with.
New Zealand Education Institute executive member Ian Leckie called for greater government support to address the problem.
- NZPA
