High-profile Maori leader Lance O'Sullivan says self-serving interests and protectionism from the old establishment are at the heart of the move to close them down.

He says such a move will force Maori youth back into a state system that has "already failed them."

He is calling on the government to "put aside ideology" and give Maori youth an opportunity to learn in an environment that worked for them.

O'Sullivan comments come after by Sir Toby Curtis and Dame Iritana Tawhiwhirangi spoke out against the closures.

Curtis and Tawhiwhirangi said the decision breaches the Treaty because it forces Maori out of an education model which works for them - and back into a state system which has long failed them.

O'Sullivan says he is an example of such a failure.

"I was a student who failed twice in the traditional education system," he said.

"It was only when I had the privilege of attending a school where my own culture and language was valued and encouraged that I understood that I had the ability to succeed and create a better life not only for me and my family but also for others," he said.

A Murupara-based long-time educator has also called on the minister of education to reconsider his decision to close partnership schools in favour of special character schools.

Pem Bird, who won the 2018 Matariki Award for contribution to education, said, in his opinion, Chris Hipkins' actions were "profoundly disrespectful."

"It's condemning these children to return to a system where Maori and Pasifika underachievement is chronic, intractable and systemic."

Bird said partnership schools were making a positive difference for Maori and Pasifika students.

Source

• radionz.co.nz
• nzherald.co.nz
• radionz.co.nz
• Image: nzherald.co.nz

The Education Ministry in the region in north-western Russia stated that Halloween is "incoherent to basic traditional values and causes a negative influence on fragile minds".

Russians began - unofficially - celebrating Halloween after the collapse of the Soviet Union, as Western influences became more acceptable.

However, officials remain suspicious of the holiday, stating that it turns young people into "extremists" and that Halloween is "propaganda of the cult of death".

Earlier this month, the Russian Orthodox Church in Siberia's Krasnoyarsk region called on local authorities to ban Halloween.

Priest Maxim Zolotukhin told local television that children may get depressed after Halloween because they do not understand the difference between make-believe and reality, and so evil will enter their souls.

Two years ago, regional legislators in Siberia's Omsk region banned Halloween celebrations in all schools, saying Russian children had to be protected from "dangerous and morally corrupt US cultural influence".

Other Russian officials have called for the banning of zombie and monster costumes from toy stores, citing harm to children.

In 2013, St Petersburg lawmaker Vitaly Milonov ordered police to break up a Halloween celebration in a park in the city's Kupchino district.

After he had broken up the celebrations, which included singing, dancing and pumpkin-carving, Milonov wrote on his blog: "We have managed to stop the witches' orgy . . . . We are defending the cross."

Sources

• The Telegraph
• Image: History.com