Two teenage New Zealand citizens who were prevented from going to school this year after receiving wrong legal information from the Ministry of Education and a college have finally been enrolled today.
After 1News started making inquiries, the ministry apologised and promised to review its processes to ensure families in the future "receive clear, accurate and consistent advice".
Fourteen-year-olds Elsa and Carol – whose names have been changed to protect their identity – are Pasifika but have New Zealand passports. They had been living overseas with extended family members after being adopted several years prior. The family also owned a house in central Auckland.
At the beginning of the year, the girls moved to New Zealand to start high school.
Then the problems began.
Both the college and the Ministry of Education said they needed to see proof of guardianship approved by the Family Court before they could enrol.
Their guardian was appalled.
"I cannot believe it and I find it so stressful... the law in New Zealand is children go to school they have to be in school. What is the problem? They are New Zealand citizens,” the guardian said.
An application was lodged with the Family Court but the waiting list to be heard was extremely long. As at the end of May this year, there were 23,529 active Family Court applications and 8647 of them were in backlog.
The girls were in limbo in the meantime, unable to attend school for five months despite their guardian offering to show the college all her signed documentation proving guardianship.
"Let the children go to school while they're waiting for this. Don't deprive them of their education, their future," their guardian said.
The girls said missing school for the last five months had put them behind.
"It's affecting my goals that I want to achieve in the future. I want to improve my learning skills, and I think it's just really affecting my future self," Elsa said.
The pair said they felt discriminated against as they were on New Zealand passports and couldn't see why they couldn't go to school.
1News received a statement from the ministry clarifying that, under the Education and Training Act 2020, the girls were classified as domestic students and were entitled to enrol at the state school they where they were in-zone.
Deputy Secretary for Education Services Geoff Short said there was no requirement in legislation for formal guardianship to be in place before a student could be enrolled at school.
"The Ministry of Education may intervene where schools are putting barriers in the way of enrolment including directing a school to enrol an eligible student where required."
After 1News revealed the ministry had given the same advice as the school, the ministry apologised.
"We are concerned the girls were out of school. That should not have happened, and we accept responsibility for our part in that.”
Today, the girls were finally able to enrol and buy their uniforms.
As the holidays are coming up, they will start school next term "very happy".
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