Top Scholars

May I begin by greeting everyone in the languages of the Realm of New Zealand, in English, Māori, Cook Island Māori, Niuean, Tokelauan and New Zealand Sign Language.  Greetings, Kia Ora, Kia Orana, Fakalofa Lahi Atu, Taloha Ni and as it is the morning (Sign).

May I then specifically greet you: Ministers of the  Crown, Hon Anne Tolley, Minister of Education, Hon Heather Roy, Associate Minister of Education; and Hon Kate Williamson, Minister of Labour and fellow members of Parliament, particularly from the House Education and Science Select Committee;  Sue Suckling Chair of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority and your fellow board members; Dr Karen Poutasi, Chief Executive of NZQA and your staff; Karen Sewell, Secretary for Education; Dr Roy Sharp, Chief Executive of the Tertiary Education Commission; Dr Graham Stoop, Chief Review Officer of the Education Review Office; Scholarship recipients and your friends, family and whanau; Distinguished Guests otherwise; ladies and gentlemen.

It was with pleasure that my wife Susan and I accepted the invitation to attend this year's Top Scholar Awards here at Parliament this morning.

Prior to the closure of Government House late last year for a major conservation project, this ceremony had for a number of years been held there so we are pleased to be able to retain our connection with this event.

I would like to speak about the significance of the awards you have received here today.  The New Zealand Scholarship Top Scholar Awards recognise that one area which is essential to progress, not only for each person, but for the country as a whole-is that of education.

Education drives the economy and is the foundation of civil society.  More than 2500 years ago, the Chinese philosopher Kuan Chung made the point well when he said: "If you plan for a year, plant a seed.  If for ten years, plant a tree. If for a hundred years, teach the people. When you sow a seed once, you will reap a single harvest. When you teach the people, you will reap a hundred harvests."

Education unlocks each person's potential and gives each one of us the ability to bring our skills and talents to the fore and to become all that we want to be.

But it does much more.  It is more than just learning facts or figures because of providing us with the ability to approach, comprehend and provide solutions to problems, issues or questions. 

That fundamental ability is a key to innovation and the direct beneficiary is our economy.  One only has to look at the mobile phone industry.  Today, almost everyone has one, and yet only 25 years ago, this multi-billion industry that employs tens of thousands worldwide did not even exist.

Universities weren't teaching cellphone technology in the mid-1980s.   But it was graduates in a variety of disciplines, with an ability to think creatively and critically and to communicate that knowledge to others who created the industry that exists today. 

Education is also at the heart of our democracy and society.  A well-educated society is one where its citizens can question its leaders and debate issues in a robust fashion.  As Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the American Declaration of Independence and its third President once said:  "I know of no safe repository of the ultimate power of society but the people. And if we think them not enlightened enough, the remedy is not to take the power from them, but to inform them by education."

These awards are also a visible representation of the wider community's investment in your education and what may flow from that. You are embarking on higher education, an exciting period in your life, which will provide the power to better yourselves.

But once you have completed your studies you will have it in your power to use the knowledge and skills you have gained to improve the communities you will serve and which will make our country-or wherever life takes you-a better place. 

It is with pleasure then that I congratulate all the award winners, the 10 premier award winners and the 27 top subject scholars, several of whom have won multiple awards. You are the highest achievers in your age for New Zealand, and it is an honour and pleasure to be able to recognise your considerable accomplishments.

I have spoken about the potential that education can unleash but some of our Premier Award winners are already making their mark on the international stage.

I have endeavoured to find out a little more about more than one of the awardees and I am impressed, not only with their obvious academic excellence, but their broad range of activities and achievements. 

Jingcheng "Jed" Bian, from Auckland Grammar School, and Timothy Vogel, from Mount Roskill Grammar School, both represented New Zealand at the International Mathematics Olympiad in Madrid last year.  They are both studying towards engineering degrees at the University of Auckland, with Timothy also working towards a Bachelor of Commerce.

For two other Premier Award winners, further study will take them overseas. Jacob Diggle, from Wellington College, who is also a Top Subject Scholar in Art History, will begin studying History and Politics at Oxford University this year. Likewise, Arkesh Patel, from Westlake Boy's High School in Auckland, who is also Top Subject Scholar in Science, has been awarded the Douglas Myers Scholarship to Cambridge University.  Arkesh is currently studying towards a Bachelor of Engineering at the University of Auckland.

Having proven yourselves as leaders in your schools, many of you are now moving beyond that environment to the wider world and I have little doubt that you will be among our country's leaders of tomorrow. 

Making a mark on the world stage is something New Zealanders have developed a taste and reputation for.  The late expatriate New Zealander, Professor Alan MacDiarmid, who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2000, put that in the following way:  "The total population of New Zealand is less than that of the [American] city in which I live, and yet New Zealand and New Zealanders have risen to the top throughout time.  You hear much more about what New Zealanders are doing than what the people of Philadelphia are doing."

Having struck, I hope, suitably, a note of congratulations and best wishes for the future, I will close in New Zealand's first language Māori, offering greetings and wishing everyone good health and fortitude in your endeavours.   No reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, kia ora, kia kaha, tēnā koutou katoa.

To see images from the ceremony, click here.