Newly-released documents show high-level concerns about the damage Covid-19 has done to the school system.
A Cabinet paper and Education Ministry briefings to government ministers cite an urgent need to intervene and head-off potentially significant ill effects to student learning and the supply of teachers.
They resulted in a 43-million-dollar package announced in September to recruit more teachers and provide catch-up learning for thousands of teenagers
Education correspondent John Gerritsen spoke to Corin Dann.
