Legislative Assembly briefs
Roman orthography considered
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Monday, March 23, 2015
IQALUIT
The Department of Education is exploring the feasibility of using Roman orthography as the standard writing system for Inuktitut in Nunavut schools, Education Minister Paul Quassa said in the legislative assembly March 12.
"Our government has stated in its mandate document, Sivumut Abluqta, that we are committed to strengthening and enhancing the use of Inuktitut and my department plays a key role in achieving this goal," he said.
"Bilingual education is a vital element of our education system. In order to provide high-quality bilingual education, we are looking at the benefits of a standardized education system, one that would provide quality learning experiences and an equal opportunity for success for all students."
Quassa added the initiative complex and the first step is "to develop a comprehensive implementation plan for cabinet consideration."
A plan would include looking into staff capacity to provide instruction in Roman orthography, resources development, including an inventory of existing curriculum documents and resources, field test design and preparation, and communications and consultation.
South Baffin MLA David Joanasie asked Quassa how long the planning would take and how extensive the community consultations would be.
"We are only reviewing the issues and the planning process is scheduled to start in the spring of 2015," said Quassa.
The minister then reminded Joanasie that the writing system would only be applied to the school system, not community-wide and not to the public at large.
"We want further feedback on this issue from the DEAs, teachers, principals, parents, and students and so on. These are the groups that we will consult as part of this process," he said.
New ethics officer
Finance Minister Keith Peterson introduced Jeffrey Schnoor as the new ethics officer for the public service on March 16.
Schnoor, a retired former deputy justice minister and deputy attorney general for Manitoba, is the first person to fill such a position for the GN. He will travel from Winnipeg when required to act in his new capacity.
Peterson noted MLAs have been raising the need for an ethics officer since the early days of Nunavut.
"The disclosure of wrongdoing protocol, as set out in the legislation and internal human resource directives, is a mechanism to allow public servants to come forward without fear of reprisal when they honestly believe something is wrong."
Education system questioned
Why is the Nunavut curriculum so far behind, asked Quttiktuq MLA Isaac Shooyook of Education Minister Paul Quassa, even questioning the value of on-the-land instruction that takes students away from the classroom.
"I refer to the level of education our graduates have upon graduation from our schools," he said. "Does the minister now have the information as to the reason why our school curriculum is so far behind?"
Quassa noted Shooyook's question was vague but pointed out new literacy and mathematics initiatives launched by the department.
"Further, we have added new initiatives designed to engage the parents in their children's education and attendance throughout our schools in Nunavut," said Quassa. "Further, for Nunavut, all schools are now provided with a standardized curriculum, and not have different courses offered in our schools."
Shooyook rephrased his question.
"I will make it abundantly clear," he said. "Now when our students graduate from high school with a diploma ... based on the information we heard, when students are tested for their level of education, the students' levels are far below national standards."
Shooyook pushed on.
"What is the reason for the level of education being so below our national standards? Is it due to poor attendance or due to the low number of school hours spent on certain subjects? That is my reasoning for asking about our graduates' abysmal levels when they are said to be graduates of high school. So I'm asking about the nature of the problem."
However, Quassa did not really answer the question, instead raising the issue of the high dropout rate.
"We have seen by means of reports about our students that go to school that we have the highest rate of dropouts in Canada, and that is part of the problem. There are also other problems. As I stated earlier, we've been having some serious deliberations about this issue."
Quassa acknowledged that attendance at high school was a serious issue.
"If they consistently miss school during school years; for example if they miss 75 per cent, it would be like missing three whole years of school if you look at their whole school career. It is similar if they're always late. We're trying to deal with this serious issue with our approach."
This is when Shooyook questioned whether week-long on-the-land camps might be a detriment to a student's education.
"My other question is related to our unique culture here in Nunavut. In some classes, students are taken out on the land for a whole week, either fishing at a lake or some other traditional activity practiced by Inuit. The class is out on the land for the whole week ... Is this part of the problem when the students aren't in actual classes but are at the hunting camps where they aren't taking notes or tests ...
"When students aren't forced to write reports for these trips, doesn't that affect their class work? I refer specifically for students set to graduate in that year."
Quassa was quick to defend the practice, saying students don't lose classroom time.
"Even without any written systems but they are practising the Inuit traditions such as our beliefs, and oral traditions are another form of education, so that is what they are learning. They don't lose any classroom time based on the number of school days
"This is an integral part of their overall education, so they aren't lagging behind by spending this week without reading and writing but learning by observation. That is also part of our education system."
