Pasifika Education Achievement on the Rise

There has been a 3.5% increase in the number of Pacific Island 16-year-old students achieving the NCEA Level 2 qualification, according to the latest New Zealand education statistics. Pauline Winter, Chief Executive of New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs, has described the increase as encouraging news, says the Samoa Observer. Ms. Winter was commenting on the NCEA results for 2012 that show 52.5 percent of Pacific 16 year-old students achieving NCEA Level 2. This was up from 49 percent in 2011. Over 3,000 of the 5,820 Pasifika 16 year-old students who started the 2012 school year achieved NCEA Level 2 by the end of that year. ‘It is so encouraging to see more Pacific students realising their potential. We know this also means families are getting behind their children in promoting the importance of education. We welcome their commitment and hope and expect to see this trend continuing,’ Ms. Winter told the Observer. The new focus in the Pasifika Education Plan 2013-2017 on parents, families and communities, is helping lift student outcomes. ‘We all have a part to play in improving results for Pasifika children, so improvements like this are encouraging not only for the students but their families, schools and communities as well as education agencies,” Ms. Winter told the Observer. The number of Pasifika children enrolled in early childhood education in New Zealand is also on the increase.