Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (May 03/99) - As announced nearly two weeks ago by Education Minister James Arvaluk and Premier Paul Okalik, Nunavut's regional education boards will dissolve by July of 2000.

While the change itself might seem a little daunting at first, Arvaluk promises that the end result will be a more culturally appropriate education system that receives greater input from the elected bodies that preside over the schools in each hamlet -- namely, the district education authorities.

Arvaluk explained that such changes have been necessary for a long time.

"Right now, (District Education Authorities) do not have that respect that some very much deserve," said Arvaluk, during an interview in his Iqaluit office.

"(DEAs) are not sure where they fit in because, although they are elected locally, they have no political clout because they have to go to the divisional boards all the time."

The old system of the boards acting as the go-between with the DEAs and the government will be abolished and the system will become more effective, streamlined and geared to the particular needs of each community.

"It's a bit insulting to the communities that their own elected boards are answering to the non-elected board, the divisional board, and they don't have direct access to the Government of Nunavut," said Arvaluk.

So, when the new school year rings in, in September of 2000, the DEAs will directly oversee their schools and in turn, will report to regional superintendents employed by the department of education. These workers will then take those concerns directly to the deputy minister and to Arvaluk.

As for making the Alberta-based curriculum and the atmosphere of Nunavut's schools more culturally appropriate, by simply having parents and community members preside over the classrooms, a tremendous difference will be made. But as Arvaluk explained, there will also be a push to develop materials that are more relevant to Nunavut students.

As an example, he cited the largely European-based history that has traditionally been taught in Canada's schools to the extent that historical Inuit stories have been completely excluded and in some cases, lost.

"My great-grandfather Awa was a guide and when I go to Greenland, I read everything about him. Here, I don't know anything about him. This will have to be reviewed."

He noted that by increasing the amount of home-grown teaching materials used in the classrooms and by strengthening the number of Inuit teachers and principals working in the schools, the curriculum would easily become more representative of the population. To date, of the 42 principals in Nunavut, only six are Inuit and of the 37.5 per cent Inuit staff, just 20 per cent are employed as teachers.

Continuity and high standards will be closely monitored by the government and a mechanism will be developed to ensure that the level of education children receive is of the same quality as it is in southern schools.

A push to develop stronger Inuktitut education will also be looked at by the department, but Arvaluk said he also wanted to see more students learning to speak more languages.

And, by making such extensive changes to the department that received the biggest chunk of money during Nunavut's budget discussions ($142 million), Arvaluk said that in the end, he hoped to see better graduation numbers.

"(They're) very low, too low. Graduation rate has been frustrating. We're going to have to do a lot of education information to encourage students to take on that challenge, to overcome adversities."