Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, my colleague, Mr. Roland, raises some very interesting points. I think one of the most important things we realize is that the department either does not know or cannot know all of the reasons why we seem to have problems between grade 9 and grade 10, but I think the committee, after hearing some of the things the department presented as reasons in Towards Excellence, A Report on Education in the Northwest Territories, came to some of our own conclusions.
I think one of the things that seems very obvious to us is that we see this huge bulge of enrollment at grade 10. In talking to other Members from some of the smaller communities who tell us adult basic education money has been cut back so drastically in the last few years that they do not offer ABE in the communities anymore, or the waiting lists are so long that your only choice for ABE or upgrading is to go back to school during the day with the rest of the regular students. You could be 35 or 50 and put back into high school, back into the school system. I think this is one of the reasons we see this huge bulge at grade 10. It is also because in order to qualify for income support, the department makes one of the productive choices available to you, going back to high school.
If we do not offer adult basic education to adults with their own peer group, they have no choice but to go back to grade 10. We do not see them make it to grade 11, Mr. Chairman, and I do not think it is a big surprise. For the most part, they simply are not capable of passing grade 10. They get stuck and go through grade 10 year after year.
The committee sat through presentations from various NGOs who told us it is not uncommon to see someone stuck in ABE and fail the ABE program five or six times because they simply do not have the basic literacy skills to get up to the ABE level and get some sort of meaningful education from that. I am wondering if the Minister can respond and discuss this grade 10 bulge, and let the House know if a lot of the reason is because ABE students are forced to go back to high school, especially in the small communities.