NZ needs to keep it reo every day
Greater investment in teaching Ma¯ ori language needed to help revitalise precious part of our national identity
For Ma¯ ori to be enjoying success as Ma¯ ori, te reo needs to be everywhere and all the time, not just this week. While this Ma¯ ori Language Week is quite rightly showcasing te reo Ma¯ ori, there remains a substantial opportunity to increase its use by investing more into te reo Ma¯ ori education.
Despite all the efforts that have gone into Ma¯ ori language revitalisation, and many positive developments in recent years, te reo Ma¯ ori is still classed as a “vulnerable” and endangered language by the United Nations. The fragile state of indigenous languages around the world has prompted the UN to give the issue specific focus, declaring 2019 the international year of indigenous languages.
A draft Crown Ma¯ ori language strategy includes three “audacious goals”, including a goal for one million te reo Ma¯ ori speakers in Aotearoa by the year 2040, and 150,000 Ma¯ ori speaking te reo as a primary language by 2040.
Such bold goals are what’s required to ensure te reo Ma¯ ori survives and flourishes. They will require equally bold actions and real, sustained commitment — from government and from every one of us. The statistics on te reo Ma¯ ori highlight the size of the task ahead. Less than 4 per cent of New Zealanders speak te reo. Only 23 per cent of children access te reo Ma¯ ori at school. Currently one in five Ma¯ ori speak te reo.
The Government has announced its objective to integrate te reo Ma¯ ori education into everyday learning in all primary schools and early childhood education centres by 2025 and has increased funding for this purpose.
Next January, New Zealand’s record on human rights will come under the spotlight of the UN Human Rights Council. The council will review a range of human rights issues in this country, including educational outcomes and support for indigenous languages, and will make recommendations to the New Zealand Government.
Before this review, the Human Rights Commission and other representative groups will have highlighted local human rights issues to Wellington-based diplomats, to Genevabased representatives to the United Nations and to the council itself through written submissions. The Human Rights Commission firmly believes the right to Ma¯ ori language and culturally appropriate education is a basic human right and needs to be supported by tangible action.
In our submission to the Human Rights Council we recommend that the Government provides adequate resources to enable training for teachers to teach te reo Ma¯ ori in all state schools with a view to making it a compulsory curriculum subject in primary education.
As 92 per cent of Ma¯ ori children are in mainstream schools, it is critically important that we have culturally and linguistically responsive teaching in all schools. However, there is a dire shortage of quality Ma¯ ori language teachers. This highlights the need for incentives and investment in teacher training.
Te reo Ma¯ ori is New Zealand’s language. It’s a fundamental human right and part of our national identity. He reo e ko¯ rerotia ana, he reo e ora ana. A spoken language is a living language.