Foon committed to creating safe school environment

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If the number of children being bullied in New Zealand schools had measles it would be a pandemic, says Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon.

“Up to 30 percent of our children are bullied. As there are one million children in our schools, this is up to 300,000 of your children who receive physical, mental harm on a regular basis,” he says.

“If this was a measles scare, this would be a pandemic in New Zealand. So why doesn’t the government take bullying seriously?”

Mr Foon said he was encouraged to hear proposed changes announced by Minister of Education Chris Hipkins, in the Tomorrow’s School Reforms report by the Ministry of Education.

The Tomorrow’s School plan has been referred to as the biggest shake-up in education in 30 years.

Mr Hipkins this week released a list of recommendations from a review of the education system.

These include setting up an independent panel to review suspensions or expulsions, an end to the decile system and replacing it with an “equity index”, as well as potential changes to zoning.

Mr Foon said under the theme of “learners at the centre of education”, there was a stated commitment school boards would be responsible for creating safe environments that would help “eliminate racism, stigma, bullying and discrimination”.

“I plan to do all I can to contribute to this goal becoming a reality, sooner than later. I will work alongside the Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft and other partners.

“I believe safety in schools is paramount to allow all our children to learn and thrive without the fear of being bullied or discriminated against.”

Mr Foon said schools should be a safe place where children and young people, not only learned but experienced values such as inclusivity, safety and belonging.

“I’m also very pleased to see a focus and systems improvements to ensure better educational outcomes for Maori, Pacific and disabled students. For too long our education system has consistently failed to meet the needs of these groups.

“Over the next couple of weeks, I look forward to reviewing the report in full. I will then share my thoughts about the reforms as they relate to my advocacy work around bullying and race relations.”

The full release of Mr Hipkins’ recommendations can be found on the Beehive.govt.nz website. Type “supporting all schools to succeed” into the site’s search.