Backlash after New Zealand government scraps rules on incorporating Māori culture in classrooms

School boards have been obligated since 2020 to ‘give effect’ to the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document signed in 1840 between Māori tribes and the British Crown. Photograph: Fiona Goodall/Getty Images

A plan by New Zealand’s government to scrap a legal requirement on schools to incorporate local Māori culture in classrooms has been condemned by teachers, principals and school boards.

Since 2020, school boards have been obligated to “give effect” to the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document signed in 1840 between Māori tribes and the British Crown and instrumental in upholding Māori rights.