Should it be up for question? Or are they being misinformed?
After the result of the 2023 election, on the 24th November 2023 was when Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced the formation of the coalition government with ACT and New Zealand First. They formed a National-Act-NZ first coalition agreement in which a part of the agreement is to extensively look and review the Māori & Pacific Admission Scheme (MAPAS) at the University of Auckland and Otago University’s version of MAPAS being “The Mirror on Society”.
However, as a Pacific doctoral student in the Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries (not in medical sciences) I feel as though this critical review is a time waster and to be quite frank a huge misunderstanding of ignorance, with them positioning their review hiding under the umbrella of ‘equality’ in which is being disguised as a way to disproportionately affect equity for Māori and Pacific students entering medical school.
It is vital to understand what MAPAS represents and why it shouldn’t be up for review. The significance of this program is that it is successful and thriving. To give some context, MAPAS was developed in the 1970’s to allow diversity to be within Aotearoa’s health sector.
I recall watching the Breakfast NZ show and seeing Professor Warwick Bagg from the University of Auckland in support for the MAPAS program and acknowledges on live tv that there is a system that disadvantages Māori and Pacific peoples from achieving educational achievement, thus Bagg states this is a “pathway for them to enter into the programme, some of which is educational, but others are social… letting them know this is their cohort, this is their place and where they belong”.
Dr. Emma Wehipehana in her eloquently written The Spinoff article around MAPAS supports this and takes it a step further, where she explains:
“The incoming government is being disingenuous in their characterisation here – they just want to incite prejudice… Then imagine that your right to exist in that exam room is being debated by our elected government who will absolutely encourage the media to participate in this attack while you’re trying to remember the Krebs cycle or the anatomy of the brachial plexus”.
I am incredibly worried about this possible review from the government as it disempowers and is divisive in nature, as this program actually champions equity. It is important to note that according to Bagg that the: “Latest population figures show Māori make up 16.5% of the population, while Māori doctors number 4.7%. New Zealand’s Pacific population is 8.2%, with healthcare professionals from this demographic at 2.2%”.
This clearly shows that in regards to demographic equity for Māori and Pacific doctors in this country is vastly low and that this program will help increase these figures. I hope the government plans to not take such a useful initiative away. We must also be cognizant of the fact that MAPAS students can get in if they generally have a lower grade point average (GPA), as in most (not all) circumstances they may come from more deprived backgrounds, and are more likely to be the first in their family to attend university than their non-MAPAS peers. However, all students must meet the same requirements and standards to graduate.
This then debunks the stereotypical view of a “Māori and Pacific privilege” as explained by Dr. Mataroria Lyndon that the same requirements for every student (including Māori and Pacific) need to be met to graduate. And that he states: “MAPAS levels the playing field so students from different backgrounds with fewer opportunities get a chance”. This stereotypical view has been entrenched at the University for so long in blatant and subtle ways, but it is always misinformed and ignorant as people fail to want to do research around why it exists and how this program is beneficial for not just Māori and Pacific peoples but for everyone. It is for equity, it is not what Hon. David Seymour, the party leader for the ACT party says around this MAPAS program being “MAPAS is a scheme that openly practises racial discrimination, that treats people differently based on their ethnic background”. I feel as though he selectively ignores the extensive research that shows the importance and successes of this program, and when you selectively ignore the research, you show your unconscious bias.
My advice for every student who reads this is to truly understand the significance of why it is here in the first place, and that MAPAS is not a race based discriminatory program, but a diversifying equity program that helps underserved communities from Māori and Pacific to be a part of the solution in helping improve health outcomes for this country.
