Educating in te reo
Chasing a diversity dream
Dev Academy, a web and software development bootcamp, hopes to teach rural, Maori students with the help of iwi funding.
Co-founder Rohan Wakefield, said he received a call from the Expert Advisory Group for the Maori ICT Development Fund, and was told to remove the Te Reo Maori version of his curriculum from the proposal and resubmit focusing on an established Maori scholarship. Wakefield’s initial proposal asked for $1 million over two years for a te reo curriculum to be brought to regional iwi.
A spokeswoman for Te Puni Kokiri said no decisions had been made on applications for the $30 million dollar fund. .
Pouramua Kupenga, a graduate of the 19-week course in Wellington, was training to be one of the first regional teachers at a tech hub in her hometown of Ruatoria.
‘‘If we start in high school and we set up an academy in my home town, then once youngsters come out of high school, they have somewhere to go.’’
‘‘There are no jobs and no-one wants to leave because it’s our hometown.’’
Teaching in Te Reo and Kaupapa Maori would mean giving technical terms ‘‘proper meaning’’, she said.
‘‘The word Javascript, for example, you have to wonder what exactly does that word mean, and then try and describe it in the Maori language to get a feel for what it actually is.’’
Wakefield is seeking funding from iwi, including Ngati Porou, Ngai Tahu and Ngati Whatua.
‘‘It’s going to take some time, so we’ve started the conversation.’’
Te Rau Kupenga, who sits on the tribal entity for Ngati Porou, is also Pouramua’s uncle. He said the iwi’s interest was sparked by the application to the government.
‘‘They’ve missed out on that… but I can’t say on behalf of the iwi that we’re supporting it going forward.’’
Fourteen Runanganui directors, including Kupenga, make decisions on Ngati Porou’s $224 million collective asset base. Kupenga said a tech hub would be operational in six months.
‘‘Most of the iwi have similar issues to us... It’s not a silver bullet, but it could help.’’