Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

No Maori bid for science scholarship

Updated at 9:05 pm on 25 July 2011

A Crown Research Institute has been unable to award scholarships to Maori university students, because it couldn't find any interested in science.

Rangahau Ahumara Kai, or Plant and Food, is now planning to attract younger Maori to science by offering scholarships to college and high school pupils.

It's working to change what it calls the connotation of the profession, by explaining that it' s not all white coats in laboratories, but also working on the land.

Institute Maori business development manager Timoti Pahi says he's also working with iwi to help young Maori consider science as a career.

He says it's about getting youngsters into their rural areas to see that there are jobs that they could train for.

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