The Waitangi Tribunal is hearing claims from Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori and will determine if they will be granted an urgent inquiry to put the Crown's breaches of its Treaty obligations on record.
Photo: RNZ / Te Aniwa Hurihanganui
The claim was filed in October 2021 on behalf of all 63 kura and the whānau of 6500 students nationwide.
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori lead claimant Dr Cathy Dewes said it was a positive step in the urgent claim.
"This brings us a step closer to being able to put on record the injustices that kura kaupapa Māori have suffered at the hands of successive governments over the past 35 years."
The claim concerns acts and omissions by the Crown in relation to the exercise of tino rangatiratanga by whānau of kura kaupapa Māori and Te Rūnanga Nui.
"Kura kaupapa Māori have had to adopt governance and management practices and policies which reflect mainstream Western educational ethos, not that of kura kaupapa Māori," Dewes said.
Tribunal claim 'insulting' - minister
Meanwhile, work was underway to revamp Māori education, aimed at connecting more tamariki with their language and culture, the government said.
The revamp, will be overseen by independent Māori education body Te Pae Roa which will look at the consultation process, as well as the design and implementation of any programme that comes from it.
However, Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori will not be a part of the process.
Associate Minister for Education Kelvin Davis said he had long been offering places at the table for the Rūnanganui but they refused and told him instead wanted their claim in front of the tribunal for their grievances to be heard.
"I found it insulting because I had done everything I could to hand things over to them to plan the way forward to plan for kaupapa Māori and Māori medium education, and after 14 months to say they didn't want any part of it, I thought that was a lack of leadership on their behalf I thought they had in their minds that they wanted to go in a certain direction."
Te Rūnanganui said it had no confidence in the Ministry of Education to deliver on what it was proposing in the revamp and did not feel it had or was accepting the role of Te Rūnanganui in relation to kura kaupapa and Te Aho Matua and instead had given a take it or leave it approach.
A decision on an urgent hearing is being granted by the tribunal and further mediation is pending.
