Kia mau ki te reo Māori o Aotearoa. Ākona te ao. Pūpuritia!

Retain the Māori language of Aotearoa. Teach it to the world. Preserve this national treasure!

Te Reo Māori is a taonga unique to Aotearoa New Zealand. Seeing and hearing it across the motu and on the world stage unites our nation and reaffirms our commitment to honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi.  

Aotearoa New Zealand has a goal of having 1 million te reo speakers by 2040, and a crucial part of that mahi is teaching te reo Māori in schools. We have taken great steps towards this over the past few years, with a steady rise in New Zealanders speaking te reo Māori in everyday conversation. 

Currently, a primary objective for schools is to take “all reasonable steps to make instruction available in tikanga Māori and te reo Māori”. This recognises the unique place of te reo Māori in Aotearoa. It is a taonga which the Government has an obligation to protect, resource and promote, and that New Zealanders love to learn and use te reo. But the National-led Government is putting this at risk by de-prioritising the teaching of te reo in schools, making it a secondary objective for school boards. 

The Government wants to deprioritise te reo and replace it with a blanket directive to prioritise student achievement. This will make it more difficult for students and communities to expect that schools will offer it. It also reduces the responsibility of the Government to properly fund and support the teaching of te reo. 

Sign our petition on this page – join us in calling on the Minister of Education, Erica Stanford, to protect the priority of te reo Māori in schools and not make proposed changes.  

Kia kaha te reo māori ake ake ake! 

Petition Begins: 

We call on Erica Stanford, Minister of Education, to: 

• Give te reo Māori the priority it deserves in our kura  

• Not introduce the proposed changes to section 127 of the Education and Training Act 

• Keep the references to students’ rights as set out in the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 and the Human Rights Act 1993 

The changes proposed in the consultation to Section 127 of the Education and Training Act would deprioritise the teaching of te reo Māori and make it more difficult for students and communities to expect that schools will offer it. It also reduces the responsibility of the Government to properly fund and support the teaching of te reo.