ACT Education spokesperson Donna Awatere Huata said today that the idea of a full-blown Government department to oversee Maori education is bureaucracy gone mad.

“I agree with Parekura Horomia that the real issue is the displacement of Maori children from the mainstream education system.

“There have been 22 reviews of Maori education in the past 20 years and still we have not got it right.

“What needs to be done is to make improvements across-the-board to our education system – this will benefit all our children – including Maori. Maori are asking for more choice and greater accountability. Every New Zealand child will benefit from choice and accountability – not just Maori. We also need a greater emphasis on literacy for all NZ children.

“This will only be achieved through better teaching, by setting clear and positive benchmarks for achievement and through clear assessment both of the performance of the students and of the system.

“Targeting one group within the education system is no answer,” Mrs Huata said.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>