The head of the group that oversees Kura Kaupapa Māori is calling for a Māori stream of education to run parallel to that of the existing system.
Last week, the first hearings of an urgent claim brought to the Waitangi Tribunal by Te Rūnanga Nui o ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori o Aotearoa were heard at Hoani Waititi Marae in west Auckland.
At the core of the claim is the ability of Kura Kaupapa Māori to continue exercising their tino rangatiratanga, as well as what they describe as a lack of understanding and support from the Ministry of Education.
Rawiri Wright, tumuaki at Te Rūnanga Nui o ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori, said the sooner there is a kaupapa Māori education stream, the better.
"We are asking for the establishment of - for want of a better word - a Ministry of Mātauranga Kaupapa Māori, of a Māori stream of education to run parallel to that of the existing system," Wright told The Hui host Julian Wilcox.
"Education in this country is 207 years old - from the establishment of the first kura. Kura Kaupapa Māori is 38 years young. In 207 years, Māori are still at the bottom of that education system in terms of educational achievement."
Wright said there had been improvements in recent years. Recent data showed the Kura Kaupapa model provided far better results for Māori than mainstream education.
Pre-COVID-19, 64 percent of Māori in mainstream schooling were leaving with NCEA level 2. In kura, it was 79 percent.
In the last year of school, just 35 percent of Māori in mainstream schooling left with NCEA level 3, compared to 58 percent at kura.
Wright said 207 years of schooling in Aotearoa "is enough".
"The sooner there is a Māori stream, a kaupapa Māori education stream, in this country, the better."
Watch Rawiri Wright's interview on The Hui above.
