A Canterbury polytechnic is hitting back after it received backlash for introducing a one-of-a-kind trade course in te reo Māori.
Despite the criticism, the Ara Institute of Canterbury said it's determined to continue educating people about the value of te reo Māori and create opportunities for young people who speak and want to learn the language.
The level three automotive engineering course was announced last month in the hope of launching next year.
It was brought about after an ex-kura kaupapa student highlighted concerns about former Māori-medium school students having to complete English-based assignments.
Ara Te Tiriti partnerships director Te Marino Lenihan said while there was largely positive feedback about the course, there was backlash from people who thought it was "a waste of taxpayers' money" and believed there was "no real value in our language".
"We still experience that type of backlash," Lenihan told Newshub.
"I'm not surprised to have the backlash - it's disappointing but it's just still part of our society and we just have to do our best to educate people and… pay that courtesy to show them the value. If they want to hear, then they do and, if they don't, we'll just keep going," he added.
Lenihan believed te reo Māori was being accepted, normalised and celebrated in many areas throughout New Zealand - particularly places with high Māori demographics.
But that wasn't necessarily the case in Christchurch and many other areas, he said.
"I'm not saying it's restricted to the South Island - it's in pockets all over the place, I believe," Lenihan said. "We saw a bit of that in the news in… Tauranga, with the bilingual signs on Mauao being vandalised - and that's a high Māori demographic part of the world.
"We can't let that hold us back - we recognise we want to create safer and more prosperous futures for our youth and part of that, for our Māori-speaking youth, is creating opportunities for them to continue to learn in te reo," he added.
Lenihan thinks of Dame Naida Glavish, who dared to say kia ora on the phone in 1984 - which nearly led to her being sacked from her tolls operator job, leading to then-Prime Minister Robert Muldoon getting involved.
Dame Naida also experienced backlash but, 40 years on, saying kia ora was "part and parcel" of everyday New Zealand life, Lenihan said.
"We know the value of our language and the value it can bring to the wellbeing of our people and, therefore, the well-being of our society so we just have to push on through the backlash - we know it's valuable."
Referring to the te reo Māori automotive engineering course, Lenihan said Ara's trades campus had yet to embed any te reo Māori.
"This is a first for us down here - you begin every journey with one step and here's our first step."
Lenihan hoped the embedding of te reo Māori on the trades campus would lead to more and more students adopting the language.
"What I imagine is the experience of learners on the trades campus next year will include hearing te reo and seeing te reo more and more… and they'll get used to it and they'll try and engage with their own discomfort, overcome that and bit by bit it will get more normal."
