Over its 19 years of operation, Te Puna Kōhungahunga has seen many whānau through its doors. The puna reo is one of three in central Auckland, providing an early childhood education centre that focuses on learning te reo Māori and tikanga.

Jackie Howard (Ngāti Kuia) and her husband wanted their three tamariki “to grow up in te ao Māori”.

“There weren’t a lot of avenues particularly because we didn’t have our reo Māori,” she said. “So kōhanga wasn’t an option for us.”

While kōhanga reo provide total immersion for preschoolers in te reo Māori, puna reo offer a more accessible avenue where learning may be in English and te reo Māori.

Howard’s two eldest children went through Te Puna Kōhungahunga and are now in the bilingual units at Newton Central School. However, her pōtiki (youngest child), who is 2-and-a-half years old, may not have the same opportunities.

Since 2019, the University of Auckland, which the puna is connected to, has proposed the closure and sale of its faculty of education and social work campus in Epsom along with its puna reo.

While the faculty and its marae will be relocated to the city campus, the puna will close and not be relocated.

“The concern is that it’s becoming elitist,” said Howard. “Those who have it will have it and their whānau will have it, but those of us who are trying to reconnect, good luck.

“There’s two- to three-year waiting lists to get to kōhanga [reo]… so the pathway to enter into te ao Māori is becoming more narrow.”

Te Puna Reo Okahukura and Te Puna Reo o Ritimana are the only two other puna reo in Central Auckland and both are full, with waitlists.

“Basically, if you’re not on the journey, if you’re not in the Māori medium at ECE, potentially you can’t even get into kura.”

Tere Gilbert, chairperson of Ngā Puna Reo o Aotearoa, said that puna reo are particularly important in urban areas and was concerned that this closure will reduce options to whānau.

“Even though there’s a shift back to rural areas for a lot of Māori whānau, there’s still a lot who live in urban areas.”

The Howard family, who lived in Sydney, moved back home because they were “desperate to reconnect.”

“We knew that the lifestyle, cost of living wasn’t going to be as good as it was back in Sydney, but our commitment to what we want for our tamariki overrode all of that.

“There’s a lot of trauma and mamae [hurt] in terms of the loss of our reo and our understanding around tikanga and our connection to our people.

“We just don’t want our kids to have to go through all of that.”

Initially, the puna was to be closed by December 20, but its advocates have pushed it out to March 22 next year.

Lisa Finucane, the university’s spokesperson, said that the university would continue to offer childcare services at multiple locations at the city campus, including the full immersion kōhanga reo, prioritising students and staff.

“For several years, the number of children of students or staff using the puna has been fewer than 10.

“Once the campus is vacated and decommissioned, maintaining occupancy for one childcare centre on its own would require a significant operational subsidy…

“Given that the majority of users are not university students and staff, it is not considered appropriate for the university to take on these operational risks or to provide the significant subsidy required, which would necessarily be sourced from student fees.”

Hannah Barker, who is on the whānau committee, believes there is an opportunity for both the university and the puna. The committee has put forward a proposal to the university, and is awaiting a response.

She said that the Tertiary Education Commission advised it would take 18 to 36 months to sell the land.

“We expect that they’ll have ongoing overhead costs for maintenance and security at the campus and that it could benefit from us staying there to help cover some costs and help it from becoming a derelict site until it’s sold and redeveloped,” said Barker.

“It would also give us an opportunity to engage with whoever buys the land.”

Meanwhile, the committee, which is looking into forming a charitable trust, is seeking locations to re-establish the puna reo. The university has offered equipment and resources to the puna should a new centre be formed.

“The university is planning for the expansion of the kōhanga reo at the city campus,” Finucane added.

Centre manager Karen Liley, who has been a kaiako at the puna for nearly 20 years, said the puna was not just a place where whānau drop their kids, but a kaupapa-driven community producing “truly bicultural citizens of Aotearoa”.

With 38 tamariki on the roll, Liley continues to receive enrolment inquiries despite the imminent closure.

”We are working towards this, so we preserve and grow the kaupapa and community connection that we have built up over the years.”