14 Sep 2020

Virtual Maori Language moment seeks 1 million te reo speakers

From First Up, 5:47 am on 14 September 2020

On this day in 1972, 30-thousand signatures were delivered to Parliament by the group Nga Tamatoa calling for te reo Maori to be taught in schools. It was a defining moment for Aotearoa and it sparked a revitalisation of te reo Maori. It led to the establishment of Maori Language Day, which later extended to Te Wiki o te Reo Maori - Maori Language Week in 1975. 12 years later, after te reo Maori was recognised as a taonga, it was made an official language of New Zealand. As we celebrate Maori language week, we also celebrate the journey of te reo Maori in the last 5 decades and to do that, Maori Language Commissioner Professor Rawinia Higgins joined Indira Stewart.