The education sector has had to come up with more than half of the $1.9 billion to fund new education initiatives over the next four years.

The Govt can afford interest-free student loans but there needs to be more respect for taxpayer funding, John Key says.

NZ has one of the highest school dropout rates, with the sixth-lowest high-school completion rate in the developed world, a report has found.

When 13-year-old Rennie Qin arrived from China four years ago she couldn't speak English and her parents couldn't afford to send her to the "good schools" - but that wasn't enough to stop her from striving for the top.