The Māori Youth Council (MYC) recently met with the Minister of Māori Affairs, Hon Dr Pita Sharples to present him with their recommendations for what they consider are four key issues affecting rangatahi: youth justice, education, creative arts, and representation.

The Māori Youth Council believes there are opportunities for increased whānau and community involvement in the rangatahi experience with the youth justice system and alternative education.

The MYC also found that improved access to information for whānau about Family Group Conferences would enable whānau to support rangatahi confidently throughout the process from preparation for the Family Group Conference through to implementing court ordered plans.

Linked to access to information is a need for more targeted resources. The MYC believes these examples could benefit from specific targeting for youth: te reo training for teachers in mainstream education, alternative education programmes in the creative arts for rangatahi leaving school without NCEA credits in numeracy and literacy, and mentoring resources for whānau involved with the youth justice system.

The MYC also found opportunities to increase exposure to te reo Māori, and use language as a tool for reaching rangatahi.

You can read the full report here [PDF, 1.5MB].

You can view the Council’s presentation here [PDF, 1.4MB].

You can read the Minister of Māori Affairs’ press release by following this link. http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/minister-welcomes-maori-youth-council-report.

Last modified: 10/06/2011