Nunavik Inuit org repeats call for education audit

Makivik Corp. President Jobie Tukkiapik last week repeated calls for an independent audit of Nunavik’s education system. (FILE PHOTO)

Nunavik high school graduates may once again be receiving their diplomas this year but the region’s Inuit birthright organization says the system still needs some scrutiny.

Makivik Corp. President Jobie Tukkiapik repeated calls last week for an independent audit of Nunavik’s education system to help understand why students in the region receive what he called a “sub-standard” education.

The initial call came last spring, when the region learned that Secondary 5 graduates had stopped receiving diplomas in 2015.

That’s since been remedied, but Tukkiapik said the diploma issue is symptomatic of a much larger failing in Nunavik’s schools.

“We do a lot of studies in other areas, on housing and on the cost of living in the region, but I don’t think there’s ever been a study on education,” Tukkiapik said.

“We hear a lot of complaints about the education system and the low number of graduates in Nunavik. So we want to understand what the issues are.”

Even students who do graduate from Nunavik high schools often struggle once they enroll in post-secondary programs outside of the region, he noted.

In Makivik’s last communication with Quebec’s education department last June, Education Minister Sébastien Proulx expressed an openness to the audit, but first suggested he sit down with both Makivik and school board officials to look at different options.

That meeting has yet to take place, Tukkiapik said.

In the meantime, Tukkiapik said Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard has indicated his government’s support for an audit, and he told Makivik to expect news on that sometime in September.

Quebec’s education department did not respond to Nunatsiaq News’ request for information by press-time.

Tukkiapik believes Makivik should help inform how the audit is carried out, though it would be conducted by a third-party firm.

Any study should focus on the low graduation rates in the region and compare that with rates in other regions of the province, he said.

2011 statistics show that fewer than a quarter of Nunavik Inuit hold a post-secondary diploma.

“I think all parents should be concerned about this,” Tukkiapik said. “The future of our children—and of Nunavik—is at stake.”