Maori speaking children are no longer collateral damage from the current anti Maori rhetoric promoted by this coalition government but are now deemed fair game as it cuts $30m from Reo training of teachers, says Te Arataura Chair Tukoroirangi Morgan.

One of the biggest issues facing te reo Maori tuition in schools is the availability of competently trained reo Maori speaking teachers and this will have a disastrous effect on Maori learners says Tuku Morgan.

“The slash in workforce investment is unacceptable given the role of Maori medium education in delivering some of the highest success rates in the country.”

Today’s announcement coincides with the release of the Iwi census data by Statistics New Zealand and Te Kahui Raraunga which show a 48.7% increase in the number of individual iwi members reporting they could hold an everyday conversation in te reo Maori.

Tuku says he’s further heartened because 49% of iwi individuals who could speak Maori were tamariki, rangatahi and young adults under 30 yrs of age.

“If we are serious about making evidence informed decisions then it’s clear there’s a huge appetite for te reo Maori from our rangatahi demographic so this decision to cut reo focussed funding is diabolical.”

“The Crown has a Treaty of Waitangi obligation to protect te reo Maori as the perpetrator of its demise and so this latest move should be viewed as an international embarrassment for our country,” says Tuku.

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