Western Bay of Plenty Post Primary Teachers Association chairman Jason Smythe says the Maori Party policy to make Te Reo compulsory is 'a very commendable aspiration”.

Although he is in favour of making Te Reo a compulsorily available subject, Jason says the idea would be extremely difficult to implement in practice due to the lack of Maori language teachers available.

Te Ururoa Flavell and Jason Smythe.

'We have enough difficulty now finding teachers to teach Maori language in that area.”

Jason says there would definitely be a need for professional development, but says he is not sure where the funding would come from to provide the required resources.

'There are costs involved in that idea – I am not sure they would be able to do more than what is being done now.”

The Maori Party Waiariki electorate candidate and incumbent MP, Te Ururoa Flavell, says the party wants to make Te Reo available for all students by 2015.

'At the moment it is not available like that, it is up to the schools and there is no compulsion to offer the language.

'We want to make it available for anyone who wishes to take it.

'Maori is an official language of the country, it is not guaranteed into the survival into the future. It should be a birth rate for Maori children and for those who wish to take it.”

Te Ururoa says he would like to see Te Reo offered in all primary and secondary schools, but it will depend on the area the school is in.

'There may not be the desire in some areas, there may be an area where there are large numbers of Maori students who want to learn Te Reo, in which case the school needs to be able to meet these needs.

'I know there are a number of schools around the country where children have come out of immersion units from their community and there is nothing available in the secondary area.”

Te Ururoa says the policy will require a pool of teachers and part of the Maori Party policy includes a three year drive to recruit Maori language teachers.

'That doesn't necessarily mean Maori people – it includes anyone wanting to teach Maori.”

The policy would include professional development courses to assist teachers in getting up to scratch with Maori language.

Te Ururoa says he does not know how much it will cost to make Te Reo compulsorily available.

'We think the cost of not doing it, is the loss of the language in Aoteoroa – that would be disastrous.”