Wellington: Children and young people in New Zealand’s largest city of Auckland will get support from the government for getting back to classroom learning when allowed by circumstances, said Education Minister Chris Hipkins and Associate Education Minister Jan Tinetti on Saturday.
The government support will cover the rest of this year and into 2022, according to the officials.
Auckland has been in a lockdown since mid-August due to an outbreak fuelled by the the Delta variant of the virus, reports Xinhua news agency.
“Restrictions in Auckland and long periods of distance learning will have impacted on the progress of some children and young people. We are providing nearly NZ$15 million ($10 million) to help them to get back into learning in the classroom as soon as it is safe for them to do so,” Hipkins said.
“The investment will help our older students who are returning to school and heading into exams, and support younger students to get back to face-to-face learning soon. We are currently speaking to primary schools and the wider sector about an indicative date of November 15,” he added.
Tinetti said the package involves a wide range of targeted support.
“It will include community-based support and targeted funding for schools, and be used for counselling, learning support and initiatives to encourage attendance,” she said.
“We want to help those students who are finding it tough to stay engaged with their learning through the remainder of term 4 and support them over summer so they return to school and kura (schools where the teaching is in Maori and is based on Maori culture and values) next year,” she said.
At least NZ$3 million in rapid resurgence fund will go directly to schools and kura that have identified students with immediate needs and who need support to stay engaged in learning at school.
photo source: IANS
