Thank you, Mr. Speaker. We have an excellent education system here in the North but it’s not quite working as it should. One only has to look at the 2010 student assessment results released by the Department of Education in January to know that. For the 2009-2010 school year, the highest percentage of students working at or above grade level in English Language Arts was 81 percent. That was for grade 1. The numbers, unfortunately, go downhill as the grades go higher. Interestingly enough, the numbers for students functioning at or above grade level in Mathematics is higher than for English.
Education is one of the pillars essential for the foundation on which the success of NWT residents depends. Research shows that, along with poor housing and health, low levels of education result in socially disadvantaged people. I believe that our Department of Education is aware that our system is less than perfect, but I don’t think we’ve yet figured out how to make it really important to our residents to ensure that our kids get to and stay in school. Many factors contribute to this situation; distrust of schools and education on the part of parents, for instance. I believe that our northern society does not place as much emphasis on the importance of education as we should, particularly our leaders.
The Miriam-Webster definition of “lead” is “to guide someone or something along a way.” We have leaders for a reason. We rely on them, we take cues from them and we follow their advice. I believe we need to convince our leaders, all leaders -- community leaders, government leaders, sport leaders -- that they hold the key to getting and keeping kids in school. If a leader sees that the kids are not attending school, then he or she should be speaking out about it, saying that it’s wrong. He or she should be visiting the family, asking why the kids are at home during the school day. He or she should use their influence to change the culture of their community so that education is important and is priority number one.
People listen to their leaders, and I include MLAs in that group. We have influence and we should be using it for the educational good of our children and our Territory.
Thank you, Ms. Bisaro. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
