Mr. Speaker, our children have such a small amount of time to be children. As a parent, politician, and community member, I have found it difficult at times to balance childhood and public health measures, especially with teenagers.

Worldwide, more than 1.6 billion students missed school during lockdowns. Some countries have found that over 70 percent of 10-year-olds are unable to read or understand simple text. Education is a worldwide concern in Yellowknife and Yellowknife school representatives share concerns about the impact of COVID-19 on the social and educational developments of our children.

Three school years have been interrupted with inequitable access to education, unequal capacities to pivot to online learning, and public health measures whose footprints, good and bad, will be studied for decades to come.

American educators have already started publishing snapshots of the effects of COVID-19 on student learning outcomes and potential solutions. To catch students up to where they are expected to be, the American school system determined that accelerated learning with additional school days in small groups of 8 to 12 students would carry a $42 billion price tag, or $66 billion for intensive daily tutoring with a two-to-one student-teacher ratio with increased study time packed in to each day.

But Mr. Speaker, after considering what this means for NWT students, I reflected on the 19th Assembly priority to increase education outcomes of NWT students. The mandate of this government identifies that NWT education system will require modernization and fundamental changes to focus resources and system-wide efforts on student learning and wellbeing.

Cabinet committed to lead work to ensure distance learning opportunities are available in all NWT communities, implement a pilot program to support training for classroom assistants, and implement new programming to help schools and parents make decisions on student placement and retention.

Before COVID, teachers were already identifying solutions for improved student outcomes: Smaller class sizes, increases to inclusive schooling resources and supports, and as we heard yesterday from my colleague from Frame Lake, internet capacity.

Since March 2020, Yellowknife schools have been closed 105 days, 77 of which were remote learning days with varying participation and instruction.

Mr. Speaker, we don't have the luxury of hindsight or experience with pandemic recovery yet, but we do have the ability to listen to what northern educators have consistently already asked for to improve student outcomes here in the territory. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.