Community Engagement Report for developing a National Action Plan Against Racism Support kaupapa Māori education for all There was wide support for kaupapa Māori education as restoring Indigenous ways of learning and providing an alternative to racism experienced within mainstream education. One Tangata Whenua participant’s vision of the future of kaupapa Māori education was where it would become the accepted mainstream: Where the use of the word mainstream also applies to kohanga reo, kura kaupapa, wharekura and wananga. Where education outside of these kaupapa have culturally competent teachers who actually spend time in their hapori contributing and learning from Tangata Whenua. However, other participants found it hard to see a future with no racism due to the effects of colonisation and assimilation. It’s difficult to imagine a future where there is no racism. It’s quite disheartening to feel that way. [Even] as a rangatahi Māori growing up in the kōhanga reo, in kura kaupapa, … it’s still … difficult to imagine such a future. I guess [that is] the living evidence of the [extent] of colonisation and assimilation that has happened here in Aotearoa. While supporting kaupapa Māori education was an important means of eliminating institutional racism, several participants noted it was also a means of realising te Tiriti and Indigenous rights. New Zealand Human Rights Commission 45