New Zealand's Pacifika responsibility

• New Zealand hold responsibility and obligations toward some Pacific nations and have done quite a while… true.
• New Zealand spends a small fortune on ESOL in primary and secondary schools each year supporting children of migrant families … true?
• New Zealand Forgeign Minister revealed shocking stats today about the education failings of the Pacific region … true.

image from wn.com

The stats to which he refers reveal the following:

• 40 per cent of school children in Pacific Island countries do not complete a basic primary education
• only 20 per cent graduate from secondary school
• Girls have real issues with access to the formal education system in several countries.

So what should New Zealand's response be? 

Many of the issues have at their heart economics and not education. There is genuine potential for investor in supporting Pacific nations’ development of ‘tourist friendly’ facilities and pouring, at least some of the earnings back into the communities that generate that income.

But the issue for us is education. The question for educators should be:

“ Would the funding of ESOL trained teachers in these Pacific nations offset some of the financial burden placed upon New Zealand schools in supporting Pacifika students?"

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