The Government has done an about-face on plans to shut the gate on international students under Year 9 who want to study here.
Usually, some of these youngsters come with their mothers and the large majority are from South Korea. Other students are hosted on shorter stopovers. It's a lucrative business for the schools they attend and it's not uncommon for these families to plough tens of thousands of dollars every year into the local economy.
The schools they attend are also big benefactors of this cash injection.
The Ministry of Education copped a lot of flak when the proposal to stop that income stream was first tabled.
School principals were up in arms and shocked. They weren't backwards in coming forward about their views.
At the time Schools International Education Business Association executive director John van der Zwan feared families would start to seek educational opportunities in Canada and Australia.
He believed the consultation document citing "wider migration pressures" as an issue relating to enrolment of international students was "ridiculous".
Last week Education Minister Chris Hipkins said consultation with the sector showed "significant benefits" of having overseas students in primary schools.
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Advertise with NZME.He was even heading to the US and South America to drum up interest.
An International Education Strategy 2022-2030 draft plan was released that reflected the "different world" post-Covid, and a focus on "high-value and innovative international education offerings".
The move has been welcomed with a big sigh of relief.
Lynmore School principal Hinei Taute said hosting international students helped increase understanding around multiculturalism and the value of diversity and difference at school.
I agree. When I went to primary school there was no such thing as international students. The closest I came to it was two sisters whose mother was Danish.
At high school, I recall a fellow student who identified as part-Aboriginal but I can't remember anyone else who laid claims to another country.
Of course, I am going back decades and at that time we were lucky to do a school sports exchange let alone get in students from overseas. I wish we did.
I think it is important to embrace other cultures and open our minds to what other people believe in.
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Advertise with NZME.Figures show in 5225 primary and intermediate-aged international students contributed more than $29 million of revenue in 2019.
That equated to about $4 million in school tuition fees for the primary school sector.
This brings me to my second point. It's worth big bucks to some schools that use the money to fill funding gaps and provide much-needed resources to all their pupils.
Seems like some smart business sense to me when there is not enough fat on the Government's bones.
