GN addressing transcript issues for students, education minister says
All student transcripts for postsecondary applications were sent on Feb. 16, after previous problems with information system, Gross says
Minister of Education Pamela Gross, seen in a file photo in the legislative assembly, said that her department will make helping students experiencing transcript problems its top priority. (Photo by David Venn)
The Department of Education is working as hard as it can to help students who are struggling to access their transcripts, Minister of Education Pamela Gross said in the legislative assembly on Friday.
“These escalated files are our top priority,” Gross said.
Her statement came as a response from MLA George Hickes, who asked Gross what the Department of Education is doing to ensure transcripts are received by students in a timely manner.
Gross added it was brought to her attention that some students may have not received transcripts and her advice is for them to email or call the Department of Education or Financial Assistance for Nunavut Students.
Recent issues with Nunavut students receiving transcripts for postsecondary education is part of a problem that dates back to March of last year when a ransomware attack in a service provider for the Department of Education caused delays in students receiving their transcripts.
Last year’s delay in transcripts resulted in some students not being eligible for postsecondary school, Hickes said
Gross said that by Feb. 16 all transcripts had been sent by email or mail. She added it was over 1,000 transcripts.
Incomplete transcripts have also been a problem, Hickes said, adding that one student told him their application was denied three time because of incomplete transcripts.
For students who need transcripts to be updated, Gross said “we’re happy to work with individuals to ensure their transcripts are the most accurate.”
She added the Department of Education’s new student information system has been put in place to better collect data across the territory and was updated in January 2022.
Perhaps the GN or education authority could put out a newsletter and help students access their transcript ahead of time, well before they would need them. Students should make this a common practice to obtain a copy of their student transcript and keep that on file for whenever it’s needed, rather than having to apply numerous times for various applications.
I am in a position where I need to access student transcripts a couple times a year to help register prospective students into an upgrading program. Upon multiple requests I have received no response from the Department, none… zero… and this cost those students the chance to get into the program they wanted to. Disgraceful, people should be held accountable for this level of incompetence.
Maybe the GN should contract this service out of territory. I can almost guarantee we would get better results than what we are getting now
Did they at least get around to blaming it on covid?
It is the student’s responsibility to make a request for a transcript due to privacy issues, so I don’t understand your criticism…
I am sure there are a lot of things you don’t understand. Not all circumstances are conventional. Think that over if you need to.
This is unbelievable. The sole fact that this Department’s failure to produce transcripts has resulted in Nunavut teens possibly missing out on their postsecondary ambitions is inexcusable.
This is especially infuriating considering the territory’s need for trained professionals who understand the territory’s history, culture, and language. So many pushes from this exact Department encouraging students to pursue needed careers (eg. nursing, trades, teachers, lawyers)… just for them to fumble the applications for our students to attend these programs. This level of incompetence deserves some accountability and concrete change to ensure this doesn’t happen again.
The Minister is accountable, or at least should be accountable.
Have some sympathy for the transcripts department, they can only send them out if they are complete, I know of one school in the Kitikmeot that had to involve the child and youth advocate office to force the school to fix the transcript errors so the student could graduate. Without active guidance councillors, who oversees this very important piece to graduation? The systemic incompetence is what should really be the focus of this article. Schools need capable humans making sure this is done correctly begin with,
NTEP report buried, OnlynoFans for most students, transcripts delays, isolation for a certain someone – Quana
Could you elaborate on this ‘NTEP report’? What is it and where do we find a copy?
I’ve heard that NTEP, has a quite poor reputation, but I’ve never seen anyting in print.
What does “onlynofans’ mean in the context of NTEP?
You’ve thrown so many interesting ideas, but not enough details to satisfy.
Nobody knows what the OP is referring to, but as for “NTEP report buried”, this document leaked in 2019 basically says that NTEP is doomed because there are not enough high-school graduates in Nunavut to make such a postsecondary program viable:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nunavutnews.com/nunavut-news/exclusive-leaked-ntep-review-concludes-existing-program-doomed-to-fail/
the irony of the incomplete transcripts reads like the incomplete history of a certain Minister involved. it was glaringly alarming what was going on at the Hamlet of Cambridge Bay Council and the recent departure at Kitikmeot Heritage Society.
After that departure, there was a campaign going on to rally the Cambridge Bay Mayors position into a full time position (doubling salary) from the half time position it currently stands. pretty funny, after she was elected her most vocal campaigners to ask the job become full time have dropped it all together.
it’s a sad state of affairs in which future of students who want to further their education are being handcuffed and possibly being held back one year in their career because the Department of Education dropped the ball.
maybe the Deputy Premier can get things on the move.
oh wait.
The department has done nothing for the students in two years since COVID. Dept of Education gets an F’ all around. It is actually an embarrassment. I have emailed the Dept on two occasions in the past year. No response. The IDEA has zero authority and does nothing. Anyone want to start a class action law suit? 2 years of zero resources for students during COVID, students can’t get access to transcripts, teachers taking PD days one week after the return from a lock down and we get zero communication from the Dept. The finger pointing has already started. “It’s the unions fault” “ “the IDEA” has advised the dept” “please contact the IDEA”. “Donald Trump did it”. The last Minister was a joke, and this one is following suit!
Here’s a fun exercise: Send emails tagged “high importance” to managers, support staff and paraprofessionals and see how long it takes to get a response, or whether you even get a response. 50% or more of the emails will likely go unacknowledged. And some emails might be sent to accounts where the intended recipient has been on an extended leave but no auto-reply informing the sender of their absence.
Generally, internal auditors would be responsible for performing these tasks and fixing this, but I doubt that thr GN can be bothered.
Before blaming Education, know that this issue spans across all departments and it is something that needs to be addressed. Even the most incompetent of staff should be able to relay an email in a timely manner or know how to set up their out of office auto reply. It’s basic workplace etiquette.
I think everyone is entitled to speak and have the comfortability of speaking in whatever language they are familiar with. What does it accomplish to just say the single word, Quana? Not that I’m trying to make sense of anything she says in any language as it rarely coincides with question or context.
This is FAR too important to handle “in house”. No one is surprised that we lack the capacity to handle this ourselves so just outsource it to someone who can. We owe it to our kids to start thinking proactively or I’ll owe it to my own kids to remove them before getting far enough the NU education system for it to cause permanent damage to their future in and out of the territory.