Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, we all agree in this House as leaders of the Northwest Territories that education is going to play a major role in the future of the Northwest Territories. However, Mr. Speaker, we are seeing within our educational system kids being promoted from one grade to another without them being ready. We are seeing very low graduation rates within our schools, especially those in communities.

We do not have sufficient classrooms and teachers to teach the basics in science. Math and English seems to be the predominant way to teach students. We see students coming from the small communities into Yellowknife having to go back one grade in a special class to catch up with the rest. It is getting worse as you go further south.

Mr. Speaker, I have one constituent who recently moved his family to Edmonton so the parents could go to school. They put their children in school, but it was determined that the children were two or three grades behind. The territorial government told them that their kids were at that level. They had to go back two or three grades.

This has a devastating effect on the children, especially those 16- or 17-year-olds who are continuously promoted from one grade to the next and then when they hit grade 10 and in some cases have to leave their communities to go to high school in the regional centres, they are told that they have to go back to grade 9 or grade 8. A 16-year-old who is ready to challenge the world and tackle the problems of the world is told that they are really not as smart as they had been told. It is devastating on them, Mr. Speaker.

This constituent who has moved to Edmonton has to put his children into a specialized private school that is costing them $20,000. Is it right that my constituents have to pay out of their own pockets to bring their children up to a level that this government had supposedly indicated to them that the children were already there? Is it right that we expect second-class education in the Northwest Territories, especially in the communities? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.