Take DEA demands seriously

Contrary to the editorial headlined “School Daze” in the Sept. 1 edition of Nunatsiaq News, the territorial district education authorities were quite clear in the type of local control they demand in order to reach the goals they want.

The DEAs produced a list of detailed demands for local control during a meeting they held last month. This list was provided to the Government of Nunavut.

It included such things as staff management issues, budget development with final approval, setting annual goals for schools, choosing approved curriculum, and setting school hours and school years. The DEAs also included in their list of demands the formation of a District Education Authority governing body that would support the development, training and advocacy role of the DEAs.

Nunavut Tunngavik Inc. supports the territorial DEAs’ demand for increased local authority in the Education Act that is currently being developed. NTI believes this local control is needed to improve the education system, and to replace the regional education boards that were dissolved in 1999.

Though the GN promised to replace those boards with a new system that would provide direct access to the minister of education’s office, this has not happened and the DEAs have been forced to fend for themselves for the last seven years.

The decision to abolish the regional boards followed a recommendation set out in Footprints in New Snow, a document prepared to help guide division of the Northwest Territories. Footprints recommended that the three regional boards be merged and re-defined as a single Nunavut board of education. This has not happened to date.

The NTI board of directors passed a resolution in 2004 recognizing the dire situation and calling for the re-instatement of the divisional boards. Again, this has not happened.

These problems are made worse by the lack of information flowing from the GN to the DEAs. The DEAs cannot be expected to operate efficiently without adequate information or support structures. The DEAs, with strong support from Nunavut’s Inuit organizations, have voiced their frustrations and made their demands clear. These should be taken seriously.

The new Education Act is not just another bill for the GN to pass as “shallow political symbolism.” For the GN to retain any credibility on the heels of Thomas Berger’s recent report, the new Education Act must do a number of things, including:

* Provide Inuit with the control to manage their education system efficiently.
* Allow Inuit children to learn Inuit language (Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun) because as research shows, a solid foundation in a first language improves the ability to learn other languages. Most importantly, it is our right as Inuit to keep our language strong and the education system plays a huge role in this.
* Allow Inuit to be taught from an Inuit perspective, which affects curriculum, programs, material and teaching styles.

These changes will cost the government money, but it is money that would be well spent. Every day in our schools, we see poor retention and poor graduation rates. This is caused by a territorial government that is not obligated to provide adequate, culturally relevant education delivered in the language of the majority.

By giving the DEAs more local control, Inuit will have a way to push the GN to provide the money for relevant curriculum, more Inuit language speaking teachers, and an education that prepares its graduates with a transferable diploma.

Given that we work with a territorial bureaucracy that is so often concerned with fulfilling obligations over intent, it is odd that Nunatsiaq News believes the territory is best suited to solving its educational problems internally without formal legislative direction.

Paul Kaludjak
President
Nunavut Tunngavik Inc.