I fully agree that we have to do better. That’s what we’re eyeing and focusing on in the Educational Renewal and Innovation. We want to make some changes along the way. Literacy coaches, as I stated before, have been very successful, and we want to capture that in other schools, as well, because we want our students to succeed throughout the Northwest Territories. Those are the discussions that we are currently having. We’ll continue to do so with our key stakeholders and our partners. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Mr. Speaker, it says in the paper, kids are not learning to read and write by Grade 3, and if you don’t learn to read and write by Grade 3, you’re handicapped all the way through. That’s what I’m talking about, and the results show that 50 percent of our small schools are operating below their grade level. We are failing them.

I’m asking the Minister again, is he willing to look at the pilot projects that are done in Ontario to see if these pilot projects can be implemented in our Sahtu communities as a pilot project to improve the literacy skills of our students? Will he be willing to commit to look at that?

We’re always looking for opportunities and ideas and suggestions. What the Member is referring to is a document that, if we can get our hands on – I’m assuming that he’ll be tabling the document at a later time – we can access and work with it. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Member for Mackenzie Delta, Mr. Blake.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. As I mentioned in my statement earlier today, social passing is a huge issue in my riding. Many parents would like to see their children having more homework, more projects that they have to do and trying harder. Right now it seems that their children don’t have to try and yet they’re put up one grade

higher every year even though they’re not at that level.

So, I’d like to ask the Minister, why did the department move towards social passing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Blake. Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Part of the process is that we have heard over and over from the parents, the grandparents and the educators that we need to have those individuals along with their peers. At the same time, we are currently working with the parents. We have to deal with attendance and various areas of improvements within our educational system. We are doing what we can as a department. We need to reach out to the parents. If students aren’t attending schools, they fall behind. When they fall behind, they fall behind in the curriculum, the areas of study and way behind in their homework as well.

This is an area where we want to improve through our Educational Renewal and Innovation. We are doing what we can to improve in those areas, along with working with the district education councils and district education authorities because we need their support as well. Mahsi.

Just thinking back, you know, one of the reasons I believe that social passing was brought into play here was because of our graduation rates. In the past our graduation rates were much lower. This is no reason to have social passing in our education.

When will the department review and revise the Education Act to deal with social passing? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

We are doing a three-year action plan on education renewal. Part of that process will capture attendance and the challenge we are faced with. The peer passing has been brought to our attention on numerous occasions and how we can deal with the matter. There are mixed feelings about that particular subject. It depends on who you talk to. We need to have all the stakeholders have a discussion on the best approach to deal with this particular matter. This is part of the discussion we are currently having as part of the action plan on ERI. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Sahtu, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I want to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment if he’s talked with his department… There was a young student I talked with a few

weeks ago. I wanted to ask the student what the best thing about going to school is. Do you know what the student said to me, Mr. Speaker? He said, “Leaving.” I just went, “What?”

What is the Minister’s department doing to keep the students in the school rather than to leave right away?

Thank you, Mr. Yakeleya. The honourable Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.

I’m not sure what leaving right away would mean in the school system, whether that is during class or when they leave school. We want each and every child, 8,000 students across the Northwest Territories to graduate with the credentials that they can move on to further education with. There are some challenges we are faced with today. That’s the whole reason we are developing Education Renewal and Innovation, so we can capture those individual students who may be struggling, whether it is with issues at home or personal issues they have encountered. Part of the ERI is to capture the wellness of our students and deal with those matters, so we have to work with the district education councils or authorities. They have the ultimate decision when it comes to students in their jurisdictions, whether it is the community or the region. We will continue to deliver that message to them as well. Mahsi

I do apologize to the Minister. I was talking about hoping the student would say something that would get them to stay in school or something exciting, but he was looking forward to leaving the school every day. So I want to know what type of programs are in place in the schools, such as sporting events, that make students go to school and stay in school and have their school be a fun place to go to.

Has the Minister looked at any type of program such as sports and the days of the TEST program where there were sporting events that kept students in school and measured their success by also having them perform in sports?

Obviously, there are all kinds of extracurricular activities that are happening within our school systems throughout the Northwest Territories. There are 49 schools. Some may not offer full-fledged sports programs, but we continue to work with Municipal and Community Affairs dealing with sports and also the youth and how we can best deliver programs. We have been dealing with some of the community leadership. They take on the task, my department, of working with DECs and also MACA to deliver some of the fundamental sports programs that youth can be engaged in, especially youth who don’t have anything happening in their community. So, there are various programs within a community that can be highlighted through my department. I

can share some of the highlights with the Members when it comes to sports and other activities, programs that DECs and DEAs offer. Thank you.

I have looked at some of the activities going on in the small communities, extracurricular activities that could support students in their education, also their health and wellness. Some of the small communities are doing very well at the territorial level in sports such as basketball, volleyball and soccer.

Is this part of their school programming that can be supported with their educational goals in the small communities?

Yes, these are some of the additional activities, extracurricular activities that the coaches get involved in, and the teachers, volunteers at the community level. The after-school physical activity program is also part of the GNWT Healthy Choices initiative. Obviously, there is some funding attached to it to provide schools with after-school physical activities, upwards of $765,000. That is $650,000 for after-school physical activity programming and $150,000 for the healthy snacks component of the program. We feel this is very important for students to be actively engaged in sports and extracurricular activities. We will continue to support those activities as well. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Yakeleya.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Has the department ever come to the point where they do a pilot project such as they’ve done in Inuvik with the TEST program, with students in sports or on-the-land activities within education so these students can develop into world-class athletes? Has there ever been a program since they did theirs in Inuvik with the TEST program? Has there been any thought to that?

I will have to find out exactly when that last occurred. I will follow up with the Member on the detailed information. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.

Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. The honourable Member for Yellowknife Centre, Mr. Hawkins.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I appreciate the opportunity to ask a question. My question will be to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment just to help build a little further on our theme day for education, Mr. Speaker. First I should say, once again, thank you to the Bureau of Stats for their great assistance in helping me with this question because their details, I couldn’t live without.

In 2012-13 in grades 10 to 12 we had 2,582 students enrolled. However, current details tell us that only 437 students graduated. That’s approximately 50 percent if we just work the math through and divide the three grades into that first calculation. What it’s basically saying is we have a 50 percent graduation rate in the Northwest Territories.

We all know how important education is. I’d like to ask the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment as to what his department is doing to create incentives for children to go to school so that they ensure that they graduate, so that they do have a future that is so promising for them, we have a future that they can engage in.

Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.