International Recognition
In 2010, the United Nations commended kōhanga reo for providing a social, political and cultural focus point for the empowerment of Māori.
“We take New Zealand’s indigenous language movement as a positive example of having contributed to the expansion of education for Māori children,” said Leila Loupis, UNESCO communications officer.
The UNESCO report, Reaching the Marginalised, highlighted the higher achievement levels of Māori students in Māori-medium schools. In 2008, around 84 per cent of students in Māori-medium schools met literacy and numeracy standards for NCEA level one, compared with 68 per cent of Māori, who attended mainstream schools. Māori in whare kura (Māori-medium high schools) are also more likely to achieve the same NCEA result, or higher than the national average, and are more likely to go on to university.
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