‘Me whiua ki te ipupara’ - koirā te urupare a Benjamin Doyle o ngā Kākāriki ki ngā arotakenga waeture a te Kāwanatanga i ngā kura kōhungahunga o te motu.

Kua tukuna tētahi petihana ki ngā arapiki o te Whare Mīere hei aukati i wēnei arotakenga waeture.

“[We are] calling for the regulatory review of early childhood education to be thrown in the rubbish bin,” te kī a Doyle.

“It’s absolutely appalling the way that this review is prioritising profit over our tamariki and over the wellbeing of our communities.”

Otirā ko ngā tamariki mokopuna te aronga nui o te rā - nā Capital Kids Cooperative tonu te petihana nei i tuku ki ngā mema o Reipa, o Te Pāti Māori, o ngā Kakariki anō hoki.

E ai ki a Tākuta Ferris, ko tā rātau ināianei, he whakatika i ngā hapa nui kua horahia e te Minita Take Waeture, e David Seymour.

“Kua roa ngā Kāwanatanga e pōhēhē nei ko te wāhi ki ngā kaiako ECE [e] āhua whakatetaha ana. Kāre e tino whakaaro nui ki a rātau, i runga anō i te pōhēhē, kāre he tino hua i roto i ngā mahi tuku, whāngai i te mātauranga ki ngā tamariki mokopuna.”

Reduced ratios, proper resources for kaiako

In December, a review by the Ministry of Regulation found the sector to be excessive and confusing. The minister in charge, David Seymour accepted all the recommendations. However, Doyle believes it isn’t that simple.

“We need to be investing in our early childhood centres. Our kaiako, our puna, our kōhanga reo to ensure that we can reduce ratios [and] improve the working conditions of our kaiako,” he adds.

“[Ensuring] our centres are properly resourced and that pay parity is achieved for our early childhood teachers in the same way that we prioritise that for our primary school and secondary school teachers.”

However, opposers of the Ministry’s ECE regulations are concerned that the changes don’t centre the needs of the child.

“We need to put our tamariki back at the heart of education,” Doyle says.

“There are attempts by this Government to remove regulations and prioritise profits through privatisation and that really ignores the taonga of our tamariki and prioritises pūtea.”

He take hei whakaarotanga mā te marea

Me te akiaki nui a Ferris ki te iwi tūmatanui kia whai whakaaro ki wēnei take i roto i ngā pōtitanga whānui e tū mai nei.

“Hei tērā tau, mā koutou e whiriwhiri ko wai [te] kāwana [o] te motu. Nā reira kia kaha tatau te whakawhirinaki i a tātau kia tāwharautia a tātau tamariki ki te rau o te aroha.”

Koni atu i te 10,000 ngā waitohutanga kei tēnei petihana, ākuni ka tirohia e Whare, e te kōmiti whiriwhiri.

“This petition could inform whether or not the Government implement the regulatory review recommendation reviews for early childhood and we are saying - listen to the tamariki, listen to the kaiako.”