Thank you. He got me excited there when he said he signed off a letter and just for the ‘13-14 year. I thought it was going to be longer years. That kind of just tells me kids going into Grade 10 this year. I mean, if we don’t continue it and we do split up those students that do need it from the three different levels that one teacher might have to teach in the classroom. If we get one student next year that’s taking advanced courses in Grade 10 and the program stops, because the Beaufort-Delta are actually utilizing this funding, then that means the teacher is going to have to go back to amalgamating all grade levels and the students aren’t going to get the specialized attention that they needed.
You and your staff saw the grade passing levels were, like, 63 percent, 70 and 77 percent. I can’t remember what they were, but when we look at the statistics in education in the small communities, the average is, like, 34, 39, 40.
We’ve got proven results here that e-learning with the advanced courses, where they’re able to work with teachers from McPherson or Inuvik teaching these courses, they’re getting some really great, high scores that are going to prepare them for education. I would really recommend that the Minister and his staff look at signing a longer term agreement.
You heard it from the staff themselves, this is more than just advanced education and giving the students the right education that they need. You can even take it further and start getting some of our language experts teaching from small communities such as Fort McPherson teaching students in Aklavik, Tsiigehtchic, or Inuvik. Same with Tuk, getting some of our Inuvialuit speaking instructors in Tuk teaching others in Inuvik. It goes far beyond and it’s also about revitalizing our Aboriginal languages in that area. That’s where it’s suffering the most and the stats show that.
I’m happy that you signed for 2013-2014 but I think that seeing the results, seeing the potential for this innovative and unique opportunity to continue these real time teachings is something that this government needs to commit to mainly because of the cost of travel in the Beaufort-Delta. It is so high that if we can continue to do that e-learning, we would cut down on costs.
There’s the tutoring program that was also mentioned that would really benefit the teachers, and students mainly, and really cut down costs and increase our grade levels. I don’t know what else to say to sell you on this, but it would be nice to see a long-term deal with the Beaufort-Delta Education Authority to continue getting these high grades and increasing the education levels in our small communities. I’d like the Minister, I won’t ask him to commit, but if he would really take a look at it and look at long-term funding for this program so that
we can get somebody graduating out of Sachs Harbour and possibly someone out of Tsiigehtchic with a Grade 12 education.