Mr. Speaker, our schools don't only provide traditional learning opportunities like reading and writing. Schools are where children learn to interact, and where many children depend on for food and emotional support. COVID-19 has shown us that education of our northern youth is fragile and that access to education is not equitable. When I talk about equitable access, I am talking about access to the physical resources like hardware, software, Internet, and phones needed to access and communicate with schools. However, I am also talking about the capacity of the child's home to support learning, such as the ability to navigate apps, to stay on top of school work, and to maintain a work-school life balance.
NWT schools closed their doors in mid-March, and since then, NWT parents have struggled to balance childcare, teaching their children, full-time jobs, and self-care. Some parents have had the capacity and resources to prioritize school. Some have had to accept that working full-time and home schooling is not a reality that they can achieve. Still others, have had no access at all. We have heard stories of no interaction between parents, students, and teachers. Even here in Yellowknife, I have spoken with people who cannot afford Internet, and do not have access to the hardware required for virtual learning.
Although school boards have created paper-based learning packages, many parents use pay-as-you-go cellphones, making the packages difficult to reach. Other parents still are confronting their own unique challenges, making it difficult to lead their children through homeschooling. I learned from some educators that the combination of access and capacity have resulted in one school saying, roughly, a one-third participation in school assignments.
Mr. Speaker, I do not share this out of judgment. I feel we just need to honestly understand where we are before we can talk about where we want to be and what we need to get there. We have closed schools, relying on an expectation that all children have equitable access to education, yet we also know that we are in an infrastructure deficit that is inhibiting the quality of access. Sadly, our socio-economic disparities are such that this is disproportionately affecting our lower income families to a greater degree. Our schools are the foundation of equitable access to education. Learning fuels pride, resilience and social connection. We always tell our children to prioritize their education because no one can take it away, yet here we are, Mr. Speaker. Without schools, our equitable access to learning supports creates barriers that may be insurmountable by some.
I believe the GNWT is going to need to take extraordinary steps to ensure that the 2020-2021 school year does not become the year that drives a further wedge between our privileged and underprivileged students. I look forward to hearing from the Minister of education about the work his department is doing to overcome the challenge of inequitable access to education supports. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.