Sanikiluaq (Sep 15/03) - It is not just another classroom portrait.

When these seven women graduate from their education course in Sanikiluaq next year, they will all have bachelor of education degrees from McGill University.

For Mina Rumbolt, this is a personal triumph.

"I'm excited about it," said Rumbolt, who worked at the local school before signing up.

"I was born and raised here. I heard the program was going to be in our community and I had to take it. I have a family here."

"I have a son, he's turning nine this November," she said. "It's been a struggle, having a home and having to cook, and having a son and this course. There's a lot of reading and writing, but this community is like a big family."

The students became close like family, too, over the last three years.

"We get along well and help each other," Rumbolt said.

Instructor Sylvia Ruth Harvey was falling over herself to give praise to the women last week.

"They are energetic. They are punctual. They are very articulate. Their level of language is solid," she said, "and their level of writing is also good, even though they are second language learners.

"I used to correct papers when I was a student, and I didn't see quality writing like what they're doing presently."

John Jamieson, principal of Nuiyak school in the community, says the four-year-old program, created by the office of First Nations and Inuit Education at McGill, is just the beginning for these teachers.

"We should have positions for them if they want to come back," he said.

Many of the students taught before, but this course has changed everything.

"We've had people who have been teaching in the school with full control of classes, but they haven't been qualified teachers," Jamieson said. "They didn't have a lot of theory and a lot of experience, and their pay was low.

"We're going to get more experienced, fully qualified and confident teachers coming out of this course. The kids are going to benefit, the community is going to benefit."

Student Dinah Kavik certainly feels she was "lucky" to have the course offered in her community.

"We feel lucky our families have been willing to have us go through these three years of school after teaching."

She used to be an Inuktitut instructor at Nuiyak, where she plans to return.

"Now we're on student financial assistance," she said. "So that's a big dip financially."

But she told her family this was a big opportunity for her, "and I'm going to take it while I can," she said.