Chris Hipkins Fails First Test

Former Education Minister and now Prime Minister Chris Hipkins must front up and explain the poorly communicated overkill decision to close every Auckland school.

Mayor Wayne Brown has been smashed for late decision making and poor communication during the Auckland floods. The Prime Minister is responsible for the Minister and Ministry of Education. Where is he when his Government shuts down every school in Auckland one night before they were due to open? Where is the communication from him with schools finding they’re being shut down at the last minute from media reports? 

Once again education has been put to the back of the bus. It is not a good sign for New Zealand society that the first thing to go when things get difficult is education. The message being sent by the Government to the whole country is that education is a secondary concern. That cannot be good for New Zealand’s long-term future.

That is not to mention parents, including those stressed by their own flood recovery, who have been scrambling overnight to find childcare. What the Government seems to forget is that closing schools doesn’t make children disappear. They still exist and must be somewhere. 

As one Principal told me last night, “go down to the mall tomorrow, you’ll see bored kids everywhere who should be learning. It is so offensive to the education sector.”

One thing’s for sure, Prime Minister Hipkins must explain who made the decision, when, why, and how come he did not front to own and explain the decision for Auckland Schools and parents.”