Brash praise for ‘illegal’ school

Don Brash has praised an organisation that is being prosecuted by the Ministry of Education for allegedly running an illegal school without registered teachers or proper classrooms.

The managers of unregistered Te Kura o Kawepo in Papakura will face the Ministry of Education in the Papakura District Court on Wednesday after allegedly ignoring several warnings to close the kura down.

The kura, which is run by the Kotahitanga Community Trust, was set up in February and has allegedly enrolled pre-school, primary and secondary school students without registered teachers, proper classrooms or funding for resources.

The primary school is now taught from a doctor's surgery, the pre-school at a Papakura District Council-owned building in Smiths Ave.

Meeting the kura yesterday, the National Party leader thanked the organisers for taking part in educating children.

"I don't think we can overstate the importance of the work you are doing. It makes a difference between success and failure for a number of people.

"I certainly want to lead a Government which supports the work you are doing," Dr Brash said.

He was unaware the kura was being prosecuted, but knew prosecution was threatened.

He said he supported the work the kura was doing in taking on students who had run into trouble at state schools.

"You deserve the support of taxpayers for what you are doing and I'm committed to helping you achieve that."

Later, when the Herald told Dr Brash that the prosecution was proceeding, he said he did not condone illegal activities. But he said the concerns raised by the Kotahitanga Trust were valid and the Government should instead help the kura.

He said local schools in Papakura had underperformed for years and "the impression is that the Government has given up on children because they are poor and brown".

"If the Government was as serious about helping those children as they are about picking on the kura, we would all be better off."

A Ministry of Education spokesman said the kura had never applied for registration and its managers, Dr Rhys Cullen and Peter Caccioppoli, had ignored warnings they would be prosecuted if the kura continued to operate.

The ministry had also written to parents in March informing them of the pending prosecution and reminding them that their children had to attend a registered school.

Mr Caccioppoli said yesterday that he had sought Government help to set up the kura as a special character school.

Requests for teaching staff and resources from the Ministry of Education had been refused because it was not a registered school, he said.

However, the kura could not become a registered school until it had a premises and teachers, which it could not afford.