Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 17, Number 10, 1 October 2000 — Niʻihau school [ARTICLE]

Niʻihau school

The people of Ni'ihau are native speakers of Hawaiian, not Englihs. After decades of hardship in the state puhlie schools, they have taken control of their education. The Ni'ihau community of Kaua'i is now embroiled in a dispute with an

unlikely entity - 'Aha Pūnana Leo ine., a corporation formed to promulgate Hawaiian language education. The dispute revolves around the philosophy and administration of the program formed in 1993 by the Ni'ihau eommunity of Kekaha. Named "Ke Kula Ni'ihau o Kekaha," received in a dream by the lead teacher in 1994, the program instructs its studetns in Hawaiian and English, beginning in Kindergarten. APL, who has now registered the name under its own auspices, feels all children must be educated in Hawaiian only and they'll "piek up" English from their surroundings. The Ni'ihau community has already

been doing this with devastating results since English reached Kaua'i. Today, those supporting the original intent of the Ni'ihau program operate a bihngual school with 34 registered students without external interference. On the other hand, due to general disappointment among the Ni'ihau community with many of APL's actions, including rejecting two attempts at ho'oponopono and acts of bad faith during the course of the dispute, support for APL wanes. Keao NeSmith Kekaha

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