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Young Wairarapa residents considering a career in teaching should take a look at the new scholarships for students training to teach in Māori and Pasifika languages.
The new scholarships replace those available only to Māori and Pasifika students in teacher training and will target student teachers of any ethnicity able to teach in Māori medium in either early childhood, primary or secondary education, and in Pasifika language in early childhood education.
There are currently shortages of qualified teachers in these areas.
Under the previous scheme about 400 scholarships were available to people of Māori and Pasifika descent in schools and early childhood education, and were worth up to $10,000 each over a course of study.
In the new scheme, around 300 scholarships will be awarded each year and they could be worth up to $20,000 each. The new scheme will cost about $4 million a year when fully implemented.
In return for the scholarships, recipients will be bonded and expected to teach for the same number of years for which they received the scholarships.
What is clear is that teachers able to teach in the medium of Māori and Pasifika languages are in short supply. It is that shortage which these scholarships focus on.
There is also a $41.4 million new scholarship scheme that will give assistance to people from low income backgrounds to train to be early childhood education teachers and sits alongside the scholarship scheme for Māori and Pasifika teachers.
Together, both streams of scholarships represent a $53.8 million dollar investment over four years. The new scholarships are better than the scholarships they replace because more people are eligible, and the monetary awards are significantly higher.
Thousands of scholarships could be awarded each year compared with 230 under the previous schemes, and some students could be eligible for as much as $20,000 in total.
There is some suggestion that financial barriers are stopping unqualified early childhood education teachers from entering teacher education programmes to gain qualifications that lead to registration, so this scheme will play an important role in helping teachers get over this hurdle.
Under the scheme they will be able to do their training part time, while continuing to work and an estimated 680 new people will now be eligible each year.
The package announced today also includes the extension of a number of initiatives currently available in the primary and secondary sectors to the early childhood education sector. The package includes:
- relocation grants for qualified early childhood teachers who move from specific areas of New Zealand or from overseas to areas where there is a high demand for more teachers;
- grants for qualified early childhood teachers not currently teaching who return to teaching in early childhood education;
- more study grants for qualified primary teachers to undertake early childhood teacher education. These grants will also be available for those already studying towards a primary teaching qualification who want to swap to an early childhood teaching qualification;
- funding to increase the number of incentive grants available to early childhood services to help them support staff in training, particularly in Auckland.
Applications for the 2005 scholarships will open in November. Information about the scholarships will be available through the TeachNZ website, www.teachNZ.govt.nz
Rural Affairs Minister Jim Sutton, who was in Wairarapa this week, has said assistance to flood-affected farmers is to be extended.
This is great news for our beleaguered agriculture sector.
Mr Sutton said Cabinet had formally approved the extension of the agricultural recovery programme as sought by himself, Social Development and Employment Minister Steve Maharey, and Civil Defence Minister George Hawkins.
Farmers in the lower North Island, including Wairarapa, were badly affected by widespread flooding in February and suffered further damage in storms in August.
In many places, the damage caused by the August storms had been exacerbated by the February storms: the effects were either worse than they would have been because of the earlier flooding or repairs made had been undone by the later storm.
The August damage was more localised, causing damage in pockets, but the Wairarapa area was particularly hard-hit.
While other areas have had some warm, sunny weather to turn things around, Wairarapa has been cold and wet, preventing farms from recovering. This has caused serious problems for farmers.
Mr Sutton said visited Wairarapa farmers this week to see their situation for himself.
The criteria for the extension of the agricultural recovery programme were the same as the original programme's criteria.
People who earn 51 percent or more of their income from farming, forestry, and cropgrowing within the boundaries of the Tararua, Masterton, Carterton, South Wairarapa, South Taranaki, Wanganui, Ruapehu, Rangitikei, Manawatu, Horowhenua, Kapiti and Central Hawkes Bay local authorities are eligible for assistance.
Repair work for the February storm damage that was damaged again in the August storms is eligible, without incurring an additional threshold.
Enhanced Taskforce Green assistance was extended to the end of December, and the maximum hourly rate increased up to $12 where necessary to engage skilled experienced workers.
The Social Development Ministry will provide Rural Sector Assistance till the end of December and Ministers will review its provision in November.
I encourage Wairarapa women to celebrate the 111th anniversary of women's suffrage on 19 September by exercising their right to vote in the local body and district health board elections.
Women have enormous practical experience of local health issues and wider community concerns. By exercising their right to vote in these elections, they can have a say in the development of their local communities and the provision of health services in their region.
New Zealand made history by being the first nation to introduce universal adult suffrage in 1893.
The suffragettes campaigned for the chance to influence society and ensure that future generations could have their say about the big issues affecting both the country and their lives.
Two months after women won the right to vote, 85 percent of New Zealand women were enrolled to do so and 65 percent actually voted in the 1893 general election.
Today, voting is a right that many women in New Zealand take for granted. However, research shows that women remain less politically engaged than men. Let's change that in these elections, and ensure that the voice of all our citizens is heard.
Papers have been sent out and I urge everyone to have their say by making sure they send their ballots back.
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