TETLIT'ZHEH/FORT MCPHERSON - Plummeting graduation rates and soaring dropout rates have long plagued students and educators in communities across the NWT. Now, a network of Fort McPherson teachers, counsellors and local leaders believe they may have found a solution.

Co-ordinator Edward Wright is hoping to see 60 students by the time Fort McPherson's alternative education program is scheduled to end in March 2011. - NNSL file photo

Young people aged 16 to 30 who have become disenfranchised with the formal education system – either having dropped out or having missed too many school days to earn the required credits – can now sign up for a new alternative that combines basic reading and math lessons with hands-on trades training, cultural education and individual counselling.

The alternative education project began Oct. 26.

The community of Fort McPherson, partnering with the band council, the hamlet, Chief Julius School, Aurora College, Beaufort Delta Education Council, Tl'oondih Healing Society, the RCMP and other groups, secured about $700,000 in federal funding to run the pilot project, called the "Gwijiin zrii – Success" program.

The money for the project comes from the Aboriginal Skills and Training Strategic Investment Fund, which falls under Canada's Economic Development Plan.

School principal Jean Boudreau hatched the idea last year and suggested it to members of the band council, who were concerned about the number of young people in the community who were not attending school.

"It's like we're a round hole, they're a square peg – it just wasn't a really great fit," Boudreau said, explaining the need for officials to develop an education program tailored to fit students' needs.

"We also found that there were a large number of students who had personal issues, either through substance abuse, alcohol, drugs, other kinds of abuse in their past, and that they weren't attending school because they simply couldn't deal with all those personal things," he said. "I was able to justify the reasons why, but then again we still are a school and we're supposed to be here for students and for the community and we're not doing anything for these kids, really."

So far about 12 students have registered for the first part of the program, which lasts until the end of December, but co-ordinator Edward Wright is hoping to see 60 students by the time the project is scheduled to end in March 2011. Participating students will go through a screening to determine their learning level and then rotate through the different components of the program over 18 months, earning high school Career Technology Studies credits and, in some cases, Aurora College credits. A mobile trades trailer from Aurora College is already set up in the community.

The program is not a replacement for a high school education – its future graduates will not receive a high school diploma – but organizers hope it will help students succeed in learning the necessary skills and getting their education back on track.

"I believe in what it's all about – focusing on individuals who have not ever succeeded within the regular school system and who still can't succeed for whatever reasons there are in their lives," Wright said.