Current+Situation

Over that last century English has permeated our Islands and our lives and been sold as a replacement for our own languages.Our familes were beaten in schools controlled by NZ educators and administrators- even after independence- Now the low status and vlaue placed on them by educators politicians in power cintinues to dominate our families views and actions-Some of our languages noware facing complete loss from both our Island homelands and NZ populationsas a direct result of these HUman Rights violations of earlier times. Loss has been greatest in countries controlled directly by NZ- Niue Cook Is and Tokelau.Even now NZ is still are sending English only speaking teachers to these countries rather than Indigenous trained educators themselves- And so it continues....You can read more about this in - ( SEE McCaffery, J.J; McFall - McCaffery, J.A.T. ( 2010) 'O tatou ō aga’i i fea?/`Oku tau ō ki fe?/Where are we heading?: Pasifika languages in Aotearoa/New Zealand', **//AlterNative : An International Iournal of Indigenous Scholarship, 6,//** //**Issue 2: Special Supplement Issue Ngaahi Lea 'a e Kakai Pasifiki: Endangered Pacific Languages and Cultures**)//, 86-121, (35 pages) 2010, http://www.maramatanga.co.nz/alternative- AND on this site

In Samoa alone, New Zealand took over guardianship after the first world war. What happened during those times through to 1962 shows the damage done when a more powerful country imposes its own agenda on the politically weaker partner. Some of these generations were granted New Zealand Citizenship by the Privy Council but the NZ Govt later took it away. The Dawn Raids stories also tells of when our people had our houses raided by police and immigration and even NZ citizens fronm Niue, Tokelau, and Cook islands were stopped harassed and even sometimes arrested. [|Refer to : New Zealand apologises to Samoa]

Currently only 27.8% of Pacific school leavers qualify for university compared with 51.7% of Pakeha/Europeans and 67.8% of Asians. The key areas for future occupations are advanced trade, technical and professional qualifications, especially engineering, architecture and building. Are we preparing our students for the jobs becoming available, or will too many of them still continue in low-skilled, low-paid occupations?

Our children are the academic tail for our government. Millions of dollars are poured into the system to 'teach our children English.' The PIRLs report continues to show our government that their way does not work.The long brown tail data ( us) has not changed. Our children are not succeeding in schools. We know that the best way for our children to succeed in schools is if their own language and literacy is strong as a base for learning English. Our international colleagues support us in our challenge to our governments policies and our request to them to support Pacific aspirations for our children.