Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, earlier today, my honourable friend, the Member for Tu Nedhe-Wiilideh asked about a program evaluation for the Teacher Education Program. I'd like to ask the Minister of Education: has a program evaluation been done, yes or no? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned earlier, at the beginning of this process, our department, the Department of ECE, worked in collaboration with the Aurora College staff and executive to identify reductions within their program services. I will have to find out from the department if there was a full evaluation done on the program and get back to the Member on that. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
It is a little concerning to hear that we are not sure if this was an evidence-based decision to cut this program, or if it is, in fact, a political decision to cut, to save some money and support the fiscal strategy of the government. Can the Minister at least clarify that point? What is motivating this decision? Is it, again, to meet a reduction target, or is it because we want the best quality education for Northerners?
As I had mentioned earlier, as Members of the Legislative Assembly, sometimes you have tough decisions to make. In terms of reductions, my department, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment, worked with the department at Aurora College to identify where reductions could be made in Aurora College. The consultation took place. They looked at the programs, looked at what the impacts were, and as you have heard on many occasions the fiscal situation that this government is in and the fiscal responsibility that we have as legislatures on the public purse, sometimes you have got to make those difficult decisions. These were two areas of reductions that were brought forth to the government, and we are in the process of debating that at the moment.
I do appreciate that the Minister is taking a firm position on this, and arguing that position. Just as a matter of course, I do not agree with it. I think if we are going to find those redundancies that we can live with, they should be redundancies that are based, or reductions that are based on evidence. Again, we see that the Minister does not have that information at his fingertips. The strategic planning process, what is the criteria for that? Is the criteria for that broad statements of fiscal responsibility and political direction like that, or is it a strategic plan that is based on evidence, that is based on feedback from students and course facilitators? Which is it, Mr. Speaker? Are we making decisions for the college based on political expediency, or are we making decisions based on sound, solid evidence?
As I mentioned earlier when I was responding to another Member's questions, on average, for the last three years, we have had 29 students enroll in through the TEP program. For the last three years, on average, we have graduated seven. We are currently in the same process this year, and I encourage all the students who are in the program right now, to study hard, to work hard, and to get that degree so that we can employ you in our schools, in our communities. We are also currently working and supporting 33 students outside of the territory.
These are evidence-based decisions that were made when we looked at the programs. Obviously, we do not want to put a number to each graduate that we have, but when we make our investments, they have got to be strategic investments that gives us the best outcomes that will help our communities and help our northern education system. We continue to support the students who are in there right now. We continue to support students who want to go and get educated down south. These were evidence-based decisions, and as I mentioned, as a Member of this Legislative Assembly, there are times that we have to make hard decisions based on the fiscal situation that we are currently in.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Kam Lake.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I think we have to give our students the benefit of the doubt. There is an awful lot that goes into pursuing an education degree. I hear the Minister say this often, that he's encouraging them all to study hard and get those degrees. Will the Minister make the commitment to saving this program if enough students graduate? If the entire class graduates, will he put the money back in the program, because that seems to be the criteria he's putting forward today. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The whole process of this, when it came to light, there was information that was shared with standing committee. The standing committee was aware of this last year. We worked with the board. The board executive was known of this when we worked with the executive moving forward. None of this is new. This is where we debated in the House during budget session, and that's what we're having now is a healthy debate on the programs. These two programs were identified, and we will be debating that when we get into the main estimates in Committee of the Whole.
