Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Earlier today in my Member’s statement, I referred to a passage in the recently tabled Education Renewal and Innovation Framework, and it stated: “by Grade 4 the average NWT student has already missed half a year of school, or two full years by Grade 10.”
Truancy or attendance concerns are not only unique to the NWT but are a critical barrier to our students’ success and their achievement. My questions today are for the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Admittedly, upon review of the ECE framework, it only dedicates one page of this truancy concern in its framework for change document, with little to offer in terms of potential initiatives to address this barrier. Can the Minister of Education indicate as to why so little attention to truancy?