Te Pāti Māori backs Iwi Chairs Forum call to protect Te Tiriti in education

Te Pāti Māori
Published by
November 19, 2025

Te Pāti Māori backs Iwi Chairs Forum call to protect Te Tiriti in education

Te Pāti Māori stands in full support of the National Iwi Chairs Forum petition calling on the Prime Minister and Minister of Education to immediately reverse the amendment to section 127(2)(e) of the Education and Training Act and to retain the requirement for school boards to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

“Te Tiriti o Waitangi is not an optional extra in our education system, it is the foundation of how we live together in this country,” says Te Pāti Māori Co-Leader Rawiri Waititi. “Removing Te Tiriti from the core objectives for school boards is not a technical tidy up. It is a deliberate step backwards that undermines the relationship between tāngata whenua and tāngata Tiriti and abandons our tamariki in the very place where Te Tiriti should be lived and learned every day.”

“Our education policy is clear: we will require te reo Māori and Māori history to be core curriculum subjects, ensure Māori medium education is funded on an equitable basis with mainstream, and redirect at least 25 percent of the education budget into Māori models of delivery and pastoral care so that all tamariki can thrive as who they are.” 

“Education is where Te Tiriti becomes real for every generation. Every child in this country passes through our education system. That system should teach them that they belong, that their identity is valued, and that partnership under Te Tiriti is the starting point for how we live together. When the Crown walks away from Te Tiriti in education, it walks away from its responsibility to every learner in Aotearoa.”

Te Pāti Māori is calling on whānau, hapū, iwi, school communities, teachers, unions, boards and allies across Aotearoa to get in behind the National Iwi Chairs Forum petition - to sign it, share it and make their voices heard.

“We support the Iwi Chairs Forum in demanding that the Crown honour Te Tiriti in our classrooms and lecture theatres,” says Waititi. “If this Government is serious about the wellbeing of all our tamariki, it will restore section 127 and reaffirm its commitment to Te Tiriti o Waitangi in education.”

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