Berger report lifted the veil on education

Your April 14, 2006 editorial on the Berger report on education needs in Nunavut made the argument that there was nothing new in the report.

As parents, we say the Berger report had a message that cannot be overstated or repeated enough and that is — you cannot expect to get different results in our schools if you don’t do things differently, and doing things differently will require new approaches and targeted investments in key areas… and, implementation is everything. New approaches without adequate support will result in more failure.

To gain a better understanding of what is happening to our children in our schools, the Iqaluit District Education Authority commissioned two research reports this year. The first report examined “the Education Gap” — the gap between how our children perform in school relative to the rest of Canada. We were saddened to learn the facts about what our eyes are telling us: that there are an unacceptably high number of students leaving our schools long before graduation.

Our second report looked at those students who were struggling in school. As parents, we assume that our schools are able to provide supports for those students who for whatever reason are struggling in school. But again we were saddened to learn just how few remedial programs are provided through the school funding formula. We learned in our research that the risk factors associated with children leaving school early are often present at the kindergarten to Grade 5 level, yet these grades have no more remedial resources available to them than the older grades.

We have also seen what we know as parents to be true: that children learn a second language better when their first language is strong. Thomas Berger made a strong and eloquent argument for the importance of developing a bilingual education system in Nunavut. It was as though he lifted the veil on a subject that has not had nearly enough political and financial support in our schools through successions of governments.

Yes, the transformation of our schools into places of success and achievement for our children will require funding over and above what is currently provided to operate the schools we inherited from the NWT. We don’t think it should involve “begging bowls” as the editorial suggests, but rather it should be presented as the single most important investment in Nunavut’s success.

We believe that our federal government will see the value in attaching their support to a positive schooling experience for Canada’s North.

We hope that our political leaders in Ottawa do not spend years putting forth jurisdictional or constitutional arguments and counter-arguments as to why investments cannot be made while our children walk the streets instead of the hallways of our schools.

Thank you Thomas Berger, for helping us with the way forward.

Christa Kunuk
Chair
Iqaluit District Education Authority

Note: In December 2005 the IDEA released a research report on Nunavut’s Education Gap. In April 2006 the IDEA released “A Status Report on Students at Risk”.

A copy of these reports can be obtained at the IDEA office or on the IDEA website at www.iqaluitdea.net.