April 16, 2014
Minister welcomes kohanga review
Education Minister Hekia Parata is welcoming the formation of a working group to develop new governance arrangements for kohanga reo.
The working group was appointed by a national hui at Turangawaewae Marae, and it will spend several months visiting marae before reporting back to the Kohanga Reo National Trust and to another national hui.
She says she and Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples wrote to the trust before the hui making it clear governance was for the kohanga reo movement to sort out, not the government.
"And the only thing we pointed to was it needed to be democratic and it needed to be representative and it needed to include the voices of the kohanga whanau themselves. So I’m really pleased that working group Te Roopu Whaiti has been established and that kohanga whanau will have the opportunity to say what they want in terms of the governance for them going forward," Ms Parata says.
She still wants answers from the trust on its accountability for the $92 million in taxpayer money going into kohanga reo and its response to allegations of misspending.
FOR THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH MINISTER HEKIA PARATA CLICK ON THE LINK
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