Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I’d like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment questions on my Member’s statement on absenteeism. This is not an opinion. I’m seeking from the data that the Minister has access to, if the Minister agrees that there is a direct correlation between absenteeism and graduation rates.
Thank you, Mr. Beaulieu. The honourable Minister responsible for Education, Culture and Employment, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, throughout this session and in the previous session, as well, we did share the highlights of the graduation among the aboriginal groups or even the northern students. It has been very successful to date. Yes, we are currently dealing with a challenge on enrolment and absenteeism in the schools, but we are developing a plan of action to deal with those matters. I did highlight some of the key areas we’ve initiated with providing worthwhile investment into the school boards so they can deal with those enrolment and absenteeism challenges before us. There has been some progress being made since September until today, Mr. Speaker. So we are making progress in this area. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, again, from the information that the Minister does have in the department, does the Minister agree that the more education a person has, the greater the potential a person has for employment and higher income?
Mr. Speaker, most definitely I agree that the more an individual has education in their back pocket, high school graduation and on to post-secondary and even to higher education. Of course, we want them to come back to the Northwest Territories and work for whether it be our government or aboriginal governments or municipalities. So we continue to invest into our SFA Program, our Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative area. So we continue to invest in those areas. Early childhood that we talked about earlier, we continue to invest in those important factors. Mahsi.
Mr. Speaker, aside from the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative and more money being put into SFA, is there anything specific, anything strategic that’s happening with the district education authorities and the department to address the issue of absenteeism? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, there are different education councils and also education authorities initiating their own practices to deal with the absenteeism. We just came from the South Slave school district where they had certain pilot projects that have been very successful and they are almost meeting the Canadian standards on the grade level. So I’d like to see in the next year or two the final results, hoping that we’re beyond the Canadian standards. Yes, Mr. Speaker, there are successful programs underway within each of the five regions. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Your final supplementary, Mr. Beaulieu.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I was on the literacy tour in the South Slave with the Minister. I think that all indications are that if the students were attending school better than 90 percent of the time, we would probably be higher than functional grade level, actually. Would the Minister look at re-profiling some money to address the absenteeism issue with the district education authorities, from the department to the district education authorities? Thank you.
Mr. Speaker, I do believe this will be part of the discussion that the Aboriginal Student Achievement Initiative will certainly take into consideration, because they are dealing with the absenteeism, the enrolment issue, the functional grade level and the also the high school graduates we’re upgrading. Those are the discussions that are before them and they will certainly take those into consideration. If not, we can certainly discuss it as we go forward. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Nunakput, Mr. Jacobson.
