“Remarks by the Minister of Education, Trevor Mallard, about the standard of dress of children at Manaia View School are
demeaning,” says NZ First MP, Brian Donnelly.
Questioned in the House about a spur-of-the-moment one-off grant of $10,000 to buy student T-shirts, that he had when
opening Manaia View School, Mr Mallard said: “When I was there I noted that the kapa haka group had some very nice
T-shirts but the rest of the kids looked very poor and pretty scruffy.”
“The Minister’s remarks are patronising and insulting”, said Mr Donnelly. “I certainly didn’t see a scruffy bunch of
kids. I thought they were dressed pretty similarly as any group of school children in a Northland school.”
“The parents of Raumanga and associated areas whose children attend the new school should be outraged by these remarks”.
ENDS