ACT Education and Spokesperson Donna Awatere Huata has strongly attacked Labour's proposed Education policies saying " a Labour Government will drag New Zealand Schools back into the Seventies."

The Act MP says "there is not a single new idea in their policies. Far from offering students more choice, there will be fewer opportunities for them to succeed."

"Labour is proposing more funding to close the gap between schools, but no measurement of the impact of the policies in schools. The quality of education children receive can't be improved without some form of national assessment."

"Labour proposes lifting the standard of education in the poorest 10% of schools, over half of which are Maori. But what failing schools require is more innovation and choice, the kind of choice provided under the TIE Scheme and Charter Schools."

"The state education system has already failed, and pouring more money into failing schools isn't the answer. Measuring the amount of money put in, doesn't necessarily guarantee an improvement in the quality of education."

"Labour also say there will be no major overhaul of the school system, despite a Ministry of Education Adult Literacy Report released last year showing that 50 % of the population are unable to read and write adequately."

"Do we have to wait for these figures to rise 70% before Labour will take action?" Mrs Awatere Huata said.

ENDS

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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>>