Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is just amazing how the information continues to roll down the road. I heard the exact comments from previous Ministers when I raised the same concerns. I guess that just confirms that Ministers may come and go, but the staff continue on. That is a point of contention, Mr. Chairman.
There are a lot of arguments out there that can be used. Hopefully the department will look at updating its information. I see it myself, and he has not denied it, but I see a direct correspondence to the student enrollments from kindergarten, where you have high enrollments, and our graduation rate drops next to nothing.
I see a wall at grade 9 when most of the residents of the Northwest Territories achieve a grade 9 level, according to the statistics. We do not know that because there is no testing issued, to prove that you actually achieve grade 9. You are in year nine, as they call it now.
Mr. Chairman, can the Minister confirm that there is a direct correspondence to the fact that there is a high dropout rate at grade 9? Is that due to the fact that once grade 10 comes around, students have to write departmentals and find they cannot cut it and that is when we lose them? Thank you.