CI Times Weekly | Current Issue 262 | 04 August 2008
Teaching Te Reo Maori in Secondary Schools
As of 1 July 2008, the Education Department has adopted a policy of teaching the Cook Islands Maori language to secondary school students from third form to seventh form and funds for the ‘ongoing’ project has already been allocated in the 2008 Budget as a result of an initiative from the Secretary of Education, John Herrmann.
Education Minister, Jim Marurai said his advice had been that teaching will be at secondary level rather than primary or preschool level because teachers found that after children reach secondary school, the Maori ‘language is forgotten’.