Plan targets racism

Everything from class streaming to racism, ‘‘sown throughout’’ the system, could be kicked out the school gate in a $42 million programme launched by Associate Education Minister Kelvin Davis. The minister launched Te Hurihanganui at Takapu¯wa¯hia Marae in Porirua – kicking off an anti-racism initiative for schools and communities, aiming to help Ma¯ori students. Davis said when he started as principal in a Far North school in 2001 and launched testing, therewas a near-100 per cent failure among Ma¯ori students to reach an appropriate standard. Staff, he said, appeared to be resigned to the result. ‘‘I believe that those attitudes and that acceptance of low Ma¯ori achievement ... that’s systemic racism.’’ The 2019 budget allocated $42m over three years for the initiative, in Porirua and Tawa, and Te Puke and Eastern Southland. Three other communities, amix of rural and urban, are still to be confirmed.