Time To Back Down On Student Ban

act-new-zealand

Fri Apr 15 2022 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Time To Back Down On Student Ban

Friday, 15 April 2022, 6:20 pm
Press Release: ACT New Zealand

“ACT is calling on the Government to employ common sense and bury their ludicrous proposal to ban international students from primary and intermediate schools when they consider it in Cabinet next month,” says ACT’s Education spokesperson Chris Baillie.

“The Government’s proposal was met with anger and disbelief from principals when they announced it in February, and this week in Parliament’s annual review of Education Chris Hipkins revealed that Cabinet will be considering it within the next month.

“The Minister claimed the entire rationale for the policy was that students might not be safe to enter and exit with border closures, amazingly this wasn’t mentioned once in the discussion document.

“Now that the world is opening up this reasoning has evaporated into thin air – a fact acknowledged by the Minister in Parliament.

"As a former teacher, I know the value these students can bring, not just economically, but socially. They broaden the horizons of our Kiwi students and become lifelong ambassadors for New Zealand.

“The financial contribution can’t be ignored either. Some schools rely on this income for specialist programmes. One principal has told ACT it funds the school's Te Reo classes, other schools use the funds for teacher aides.

"If the students can't go to public schools, they will either go private or not come at all and that would be a huge loss for New Zealand."

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