Maori Party Reveals That the Treaty of Waitangi is Already Deleted from Education

Is this cultural Genocide by Omission?

Te Ururoa Flavell, Education Spokesperson for Maori Party

Tuesday 1 August 2006

“It is an utter outrage that the new draft curriculum for schools has obliterated the Treaty of Waitangi from the education of New Zealanders” stated Te Ururoa Flavell, Education Spokesperson for the Maori Party.

“I am astounded that this Government has removed Te Tiriti o Waitangi, which is the key source of the Government’s moral and political claim to legitimacy, from the New Zealand Curriculum” said Mr Flavell.

“For the last thirteen years, the education system has been providing opportunities to learn about Te Tiriti o Waitangi as a key part of the ‘very best education system for our young people’ said Mr Flavell.

“I have to ask - what is the problem here?”

“A survey commissioned by the State Services Commission, indicated that 57% of New Zealanders said that greater knowledge about the Treaty would help many New Zealanders have a better understanding of our country and its history” said Mr Flavell.

“Another survey found that New Zealanders aged under 30 had higher levels of knowledge about the Treaty than other groups. These are all facts which confirm the value and the significance of including Te Tiriti o Waitangi as part of our education”.

“Is Labour simply trying to win political favours from NZ First, in pre-empting the deletion of the Treaty of Waitangi Bill?”

“The removal of realities - our constitutional foundation - is clearly the creation of the Doctors of Spin employed by the Labour Party to rewrite history”.

“A search of the new curriculum reveals that the words, Treaty of Waitangi (or Tiriti o Waitangi) do not appear in key areas such as

- principles (The Treaty was previously one of nine key principles of the New Zealand Curriculum Framework)

- in the Social Sciences curriculum, (where learning about New Zealand society used to include “an understanding of the Treaty of Waitangi”)

- in the Language and Languages section (where te reo was previously referred to as a taonga under the terms of the Treaty of Waitangi”).

“Indeed, the Treaty has been slashed out of all parts of the national strategy for education, as Labour moves to align itself with National, and NZ First”.

“It is a sad reflection on Labour that it has reverted to some of the behaviours of the ‘Rogernomics’ era, where it seems that the Market, now referred to as the Community, should take responsibility for the moral integrity and the development of values of Aotearoa as a society”.

“It certainly looks now, that the powerful, whom Labour is increasingly wooing, will determine the type of society that we have”.

“Labour has lost its moral fibre, if indeed that fibre existed in the first place”.

“Even sadder yet, was to hear the Minister of Maori Affairs, Hon Parekura Horomia, explain in the House, that ‘removing the principles’ of the Treaty of Waitangi from the curriculum would “enhance the principles” concluded Mr Flavell.

“Does that make sense to you - because it sure doesn’t to me!” he ended.

Background

New Zealand Curriculum Framework, 1993

The New Zealand Curriculum recognises the significance of the Treaty of Waitangi.
The school curriculum will recognise and value the unique position of Māori in New Zealand society. All students will have the opportunity to acquire some knowledge of Māori language and culture. Students will also have the opportunity to learn through te reo and nga tikanga Māori. The school curriculum will acknowledge the importance to all New Zealanders of both Māori and Pakeha traditions, histories, and values.

ENDS

© Scoop Media