Nunavut school truancy rates are getting worse

Numbers held by the Nunavut Bureau of Statistics show that between 2001-02 and 2010-11, the Nunavut-wide school truancy rate increased from 16.3 per cent to 22.4 per cent, an increase of 37.6 per cent. In Hall Beach in 2010-11, the truancy rate was 41.8 per cent. (FILE PHOTO)

Can we agree that a child who doesn’t attend Grade 1 has a far lower chance of graduating from high school than a child who does?

And that in today’s world, someone who doesn’t graduate from high school has greatly diminished opportunities as an adult?

Data on school attendance rates and school truancy rates—two ways of looking at essentially the same thing—are prepared by the Government of Nunavut’s department of Education, and are posted on the website of the Nunavut Bureau of Statistics.

What do they tell us?

Between 2001-02 and 2010-11, the school truancy rate Nunavut-wide increased from 16.3 per cent to 22.4 per cent, an increase of 37.6 per cent.

In Hall Beach in 2010-11 the truancy rate was 41.8 per cent. Of every 10 kids who were supposed to be in school on any given day, four weren’t there.

If we look at school attendance rates, we see that the Qikiqtani and Kivalliq regions aren’t doing great—and the Kitikmeot region is doing terribly.

If the Department of Education’s own data are to be believed, school attendance among Kindergarten-aged boys in the Kitikmeot region fell from 74.4 per cent in 2001-02 to 57.3 per cent in 2013-14. Among boys in Grade 1, the attendance rate in the region fell from 67.2 per cent to 55.8 per cent.

I have trouble with the use of the qallunaatitut term “truancy” in terms of elementary school children.

For me, “truancy” implies a youth choosing not to go to high school. When children in kindergarten and Grade 1 stay home rather than go to school, the adults responsible for their care have failed in their obligation to act in the best interest of the child. And not just the parent(s), but society as a whole.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child requires governments to “take measures to encourage regular attendance at schools and the reduction of drop-out rates.” The Nunavut government is clearly failing in its duty to children in this regard.

Nunavut’s elected leadership—including the next president of Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.—needs to sit down and come up with a plan to ensure that every child in the territory is in school every day, unless they’re sick or engaged in on-the-land activities with their families.

This will require honest discussion across Nunavut about the nature of the underlying problems, including unresolved historical trauma, and how best to address them. The future well-being of the society depends on it.

Jack Hicks
Saskatoon, Sask.

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