Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I, too, have similar concerns in regard to the students in Tsiigehtchic who now are having to go off to get their high school education in Inuvik by way of home boarding.
Mr. Speaker, there was a decision made by the government, I believe in the 12th Assembly, to implement high schools in all communities in the Northwest Territories from K to 12. Yet, Mr. Speaker, almost 20 years later we still haven’t been able to implement that decision made by previous governments. Mr. Speaker, when we have the dropout rates that we’re seeing in regard to home boarding or regional hostels, it’s a wonder why this government is not implementing that policy fully by ensuring that students, regardless of where they are -- Sachs Harbour, Tsiigehtchic -- can receive a high school diploma in their home community.
Mr. Speaker, I believe it’s critical that this government find a unique solution to this problem and if that means bringing in extra teachers, two or three teachers into Sachs Harbour and two or three teachers into Tsiigehtchic, so those students do not have to leave their home communities to receive their high school diploma somewhere else, and realizing in the last two years since this has been tried, the dropout rates in both communities have been grave.
I think, Mr. Speaker, it’s time that this government found solutions around the decision to offer high school programs in all communities and not continue to use the scenario student/pupil ratio, because it does not fit in small communities. I think, Mr. Speaker, that this government has to make a capital investment to either find more teachers for those communities or find a way around the problems we’re seeing with home boarding and students having to leave their home community and simply dropping out and going back home before the school year is out. Again, Mr. Speaker, I’ll leave that for the Minister of Education. I will be asking him some questions later on this matter. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Krutko. The honourable Member for Hay River South, Mrs. Groenewegen.
