Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, a point of contention that I have had with the department since becoming a Member of the Legislative Assembly is one that involves what some would call a social pass or a peer pass, something of that nature, where a student does not have to achieve grade level. They are moved along with their age level until departmentals are mandatory, which is grade 10, I believe. I think that has a direct correspondence to what we see as a dropout level of grade 9. You see a lot of students achieve grade 9 but drop out at that point.
I had discussed it previously as a member of the Social Programs Committee in the 13th Assembly. There are different bits of information used in justifying the method. I am glad to say that in the Beaufort Delta region, although it does cost a fair amount of money to administer, they do some tests at the different grades to check their grade level achievement. I think it is very important for parents to know how well their children are doing, instead of all of a sudden finding out they have a young man or lady in the family who is very disgruntled, realizing they just do not cut it when it comes to the grades they are supposed to be at. There is nothing more brutal than being in a peer group and standing out, either on the high end of grades or on the low end of grades. I think that is very difficult and it is something that needs to be addressed.
Along with that, we know there is a lot of information available that says if children, by the time they reach kindergarten to grade 1, have not developed the learning capacity at that point, then difficulties begin to arise throughout their education, right up to graduation. That has been pointed out a number of times. We know the 14th Assembly has put significant dollars and will continue to put more new dollars towards education of our residents. My concern here is how are we going to measure the impact of those new dollars going into the system? Especially since we know if we are going to have an impact and truly do remarkable things with our children, we have to focus on them at a very young age. How can we measure the dollars that are going into the different district education councils and authorities to ensure there is some method to ensure we are aiming at the right areas and not just going for an overall strategy?
Right now, we have special needs areas that go from kindergarten to grade 12. If all of our information states that if we are truly going to impact on the learning capacity of a child it has to be done by grade 1, why are we not focusing all of our energies on the special needs side at the early ages? Maybe by that time we can avert some of the lifelong problems we will see develop, and that we do see today, of having to go through the whole cycle to graduation needing some form of special needs or finding out at grade 9 they just do not cut it.
Those are areas of general concern, Mr. Chairman. I will leave it to the Minister and his staff to see if they can address those. I think if we are going to make a real difference we have to attack the problems at hand at a young age, if we are going to truly impact that. I know some people will argue you cannot just change the system, but what about the group that is in the system now? As well, there has to be some concern there. If we are going to make a true impact and see some measurable goals, we have to focus on the younger generation.
At the same time, we have talked a lot about our education and the process of it. It goes to the area of high grades and high achievements. In fact, Mr. Chairman, we are finding out there are many people who would rather be involved in the trade sector or the construction area, but we find in a lot of our schools, we do not have that ability now. It is one general program. You cannot get the high end. For example, industrial arts, as they used to call it when I went to school. That broadened your horizons.
With that, Mr. Chairman, I will turn the floor back over to the Minister for a response. Thank you.