Two candidates vying to win the Tāmaki Makaurau by-election agree the rohe has a severe shortage of Māori medium education options.
Ministry of Education figures have under 2500 students in the area with places in immersion environments.
Whānau wanting to send their tamariki to kōhanga reo or Māori immersion early childcare centres report two-year waiting lists and, if successful, driving across the city to ensure pēpī have access to the reo.
While the government recently announced $28 million will be spent on building more "safe, warm and dry classrooms" for tamariki in Māori full immersion schools, none of them are in Auckland.
Peeni Henare, a former Labour Minister who has previously held the Tāmaki Makaurau seat, acknowledges successive governments have failed to provide the support needed.
“Look, it's been a failure right across the board for such a good kaupapa. Even in our time when we lifted the pay for those who work in Kōhanga Reo the ask also was for capital investment so that they can build new whare and we couldn’t get that across the line at the time, but it's clear that it's needed.”
Oriini Kaipara, who is campaigning for Te Pāti Māori says they are “committed to investing real money into Kōhanga Reo”.
She says the party also wants to build both the capacity of the workforce, and wants to see greater recognition of kaiako qualifications.
“As we know our kaiako are not being paid what they deserve because their qualifications are always not looked at in the same light as mainstream teaching or ECE.”
She says kaiako and kōhanga whānau are frustrated by the constant struggle to access resources.
“Capacity is really where the concern is… They want to accept, they want to allow for every mokopuna, every māmā and pāpā who are trying to reconnect [with te reo]… We need to ensure that that intergenerational succession of te reo continues because as we know, it only takes one generation to kill te reo, but it takes three to get it back”
Peeni Henare says these days there are more options when it comes to educating children in te reo.
“Look, we love Kōhanga Reo, we do, but there are other avenues here. We’ve got Puna Reo now. A lot of iwi are starting their own early childcare centres which are all te reo Māori speaking childcare centres, and that’s meeting the demand that our whānau have of these institutions.”
Labour has been clear that if it is returned to government, the current policy allowing for the establishment of charter schools will end.
“I’ve always been a fan of the ability for kura and for communities to decide what’s best for them. What I don't accept though is that you take money from an already struggling public system and put it into something to seed something that has no proven outcome.”
Oriini Kaipara says Te Pāti Māori focus is on prioritising Māori making te reo accessible to as many people as possible, as well as including it as “a core subject in all mainstream schools”.
