February 28, 2017
Dictionary users keen on compulsory lessons
Users of an online Maori dictionary believe te reo Maori should be a core subject at primary school level.
Tania Ka'ai from AUT University's Te Ipukarea national Maori language institute says more than 5000 users of the dictionary completed a pop up survey on why they used the site and what their attitudes were to the language.
She says there was overwhelming support for it to be compulsory.
That fits in with a Green Party policy to look at how such an initiative could be resourced.
"If that's what our users are saying in the survey we should consider not why or if we should. It's about saying how can we build the appropriate infrastructure to add Maori to the primary school curricula. A lot of people see this as just the next step," Professor Ka'ai says.
More than 90 percent of survey respondents agreed the Maori language was an important part of New Zealand's national identity.
FULL INTERVIEW WITH TANIA KA'AI
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