12 April 2013

Stand up for kids: Protect our schools nationwide marches

What: Green Party MPs Metiria Turei, Catherine Delahunty, Denise Roche, Eugenie Sage, and Gareth Hughes will be joining with teachers tomorrow to protest the GERM education reforms that have led to Charter Schools and which threaten our first class public education system.

When: Saturday 13th April, 11am
Where: Nationwide marches – Metiria Turei, The Dental School, King Street, Dunedin
Catherine Delahunty, The Band Rotunda, cnr Bridge and Victoria Streets, Hamilton
Denise Roche, Queen Elizabeth Square, Queen Street, Auckland
Eugenie Sage, Wairakei School, 250 Wairakei Road, Bryndwr, Christchurch
Gareth Hughes, The Cenotaph, Wellington

“Public education has never been as threatened as it is now and the Green Party stands with the teachers tomorrow to defend it,” Green Party Co-leader Metiria Turei said.

“While Mr Banks deliberately misleads the public with statements that some state schools want to host the new entities in their classrooms, educators from all over the country will be taking to the streets to protest against the Government’s agenda and to stand up instead for kids and to protect our schools.

“Poverty, not schools, is failing 20 per cent of our kids.

“The Global Education Reform Movement (GERM) is a model that has infected other countries by introducing standardisation, competition and test-based accountability, and is responsible for the kind of thinking that led to the failed attempt to reduce class sizes, and which seeks to privatise education through the failed Charter Schools Model.

“Our public education system is a national taonga that needs protecting from GERM,” Mrs Turei said.

Metiria Turei will speak at the Dunedin protest, Denise Roche in Auckland protest, Eugenie Sage in Christchurch, Catherine Delahunty in Hamilton and Gareth Hughes in Wellington. The speeches will take place at the locations above from 11am, prior to the marches setting off.

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