WELLINGTON (Pacnews) — New Zealand’s Manukau city is looking to turn its multiculturalism to its advantage as a “center of language excellence.”
Roughly one in three, or 31 percent, of Manukau residents in last year’s census could speak more than one language — almost twice the national average of 17.5 per cent.
A Manukau education conference held on the weekend was considering a proposal by the city’s Pacific Islands Advisory Committee to actively encourage bilingualism.
But schools running bilingual classes say they are frustrated by a shortage of trained teachers and resources in Pacific languages.
The Pacific committee suggests in a “vision statement” that bilingual schools and units would be “commonplace” in the Manukau of the future.
“Policy would encourage academics and educationalists to see Manukau as the center of educational excellence for Pacific people,” it said.
“This will have an economic as well as educational benefit for Pacific people in Manukau, who could be trained and then employed as teachers, experts or researchers.”
A report tabled in the conference said Manukau has a special role in maintaining the languages of three island groups whose people have New Zealand citizenship and whose population mostly now lives in this country.
“Ninety-one percent of Niueans, 83 percent of Tokelauans and 73 percent of Cook Islanders live in New Zealand. Their languages are at risk of becoming extinct,” it said.