17 Jul 2014

Progress in free internet - ministry

7:48 am on 17 July 2014

About a quarter of Maori-medium kura are connected to free internet as part of a project to have fast broadband in schools across the country, the Ministry of Education says.

The connection is part of the $211 million Network for Learning, which provides schools with fast internet, uncapped data, content filtering and network security services.

The ministry says 62 Maori-medium schools, including 15 kura kaupapa, are linked to the network.

It says new ICT infrastructure would ensure children learn any time, and help students collaborate with each other and experts outside their schools and across the world. The government has said all schools will be offered a connection by the end of 2016.

Statistics from last year show 283 schools have students enrolled in Maori-medium education, which is schooling provided mainly in Te Reo Maori.

Maori-medium education was started in the 1980s. In 2001, about 17 percent of Maori children of school age were enrolled in some form of the schooling, including kura kaupapa Maori (primary schools where the whole school is taught in Te Reo), other primary immersion schools, and schools with immersion or bilingual units or classes, as well as a few whare kura (secondary schools which teach in Te Reo).