Now that New Zealand has started to move on from the unrelenting emphasis of the last two and a half years on dealing
with the pandemic, focus is beginning to return to other important aspects of national life.
We are all familiar with the mounting cost-of-living and the impact it is having on household budgets. We will all have
our views about how much of this is due to the recognisable international factors that the government is blaming, saying
it has no real control over them, and how much of it is due to domestic circumstances, far more clearly the government’s
responsibility.
That debate, which of itself will not change anything, will continue for some time yet, almost certainly through to next
year’s general election and probably beyond. There will be interminable arguments about whether the various Covid19
response packages were enough, sufficiently properly targeted, and the associated spending properly disciplined. The
level of public debt run up over the last two years will continue to be a major point of political concern, even though
New Zealand’s debt-to-GDP ratio remains on the low side by world standards. And then there will be the overarching
question of whether New Zealand’s pandemic response was fit for purpose, or too harsh, and inconsistently applied.
In the absence of an independent inquiry, something the government seems determined to avoid before the next election,
perhaps out of fear of being embarrassed, all these issues will continue to be the stuff of arcane analysis by
commentators and the subject of endless dinner table arguments.
However, there are other issues arising from the pandemic that should transcend partisan political debate because they
have a far deeper impact on the country’s future. Top of these is the fate of our children whose education and wider
socialisation has been severely disrupted while the pandemic was rife.
Disturbing figures released this week by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority show that on average the number of
NCEA credits being achieved by students to date this year is down by over 10% on comparable levels of achievement in
2019, the last full year before the arrival of the pandemic. Moreover, the number of “not-achieved” credits reported to
NZQA is at its highest point for the last two years. Secondary principals are saying 2022 could be the worst year yet
since the pandemic for secondary education. The government has already announced a $20 million remedial package to
provide extra teaching and tutoring to help affected students make up ground, but that is likely to prove a drop in the
bucket.
Aside from the worry of the level of achievement being slowed because of the disruptive impact on schools of the
pandemic, there is also the more intangible, but equally important, matter of the personal impact of the pandemic’s
disruptions on the attitude and aspirations of individual students at all levels. They will take much longer to restore
than a quick remedial package can hope to provide. In many cases, students’ future long-term plans and hopes have been
abruptly upturned since 2020.
Associated with this is the wider issue of the mental health impact of the pandemic on young people. We already have one
of the world’s highest rates of youth suicide and it is hard to see it not being impacted further by the educational and
life uncertainties young people seem set to face over the next few years. General practices are noticing an increase in
patients across the board with mental health problems brought on by the pandemic, and it would be reasonable to assume
there will be many young people among those who are affected.
Unfortunately, public health services, still caught up in the turmoil and uncertainty of the mid-year reorganisation of
the health sector are in no position to offer coherent help, placing the onus back on general practices, community
agencies and struggling, fearful families. Evidence shows there is often a lag between a civil crisis – like the
pandemic – and the growth of mental health issues in the community, meaning the impact of the pandemic on young people is set to linger for some years to come.
In that regard, the figures released by NZQA this week are likely the tip of a large and disturbing iceberg, about which
we should all be very concerned. Behind the statistics are many individuals and their families worrying about what all
this means for their own wellbeing and their children’s future aspirations.
But sadly, this looming crisis appears to be receiving scant political attention – across the board. Yet the future of
our young people is one of the most important determinants of our country’s future overall. It ought to be taken far
more seriously by all the political parties, whether in government or not, than appears to be the case at present.
Lofty speeches about the war in Ukraine, the risk of nuclear conflagration, climate change, and cyber security are of
course important and deserving of much attention, but equally so too are the educational opportunities, attainments, and
wellbeing of our children.
As New Zealand moves on from the pandemic and begins the slow process of recovery, looking after the future wellbeing
and educational attainments of our children must become a top priority for all politicians, whatever their political
stripe.