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TUKTOYAKTUK - There are some bright spots in attendance at Mangilaluk School in Tuktoyaktuk said principal Fred Butler.

The school has been struggling with truancy as average student classroom attendance has been a little more than 50 per cent.

The Grade 6 class at Mangilaluk School in Tuk enjoy a meal prepared by the principal for perfect attendance for the month of March. Standing, from left, Rylan Green, Aaron Raddi, Sherry Gruben, Melody Teddy, and Clorese Nogasak. Sitting from left, Caine Raddi, Austin Inuaslurak and Caine Raddi. - photo courtesy of Fred Butler

Butler said while some classes still need work, there are some embracing the incentives the school and the community are offering to help improve the situation.

"We've had some great improvements in some of our classes," he said.

"Grade 2, 6 and 12 classes have overall attendance records around 82 per cent.

Now we just need to get some of our other classes, hovering around 50 per cent, to get on board."

Since January, Butler has been meeting with community members and organizations like the Tuktoyaktuk Community Corporation and the hamlet to help devise a plan to deal with attendance levels.

"Through these different meetings we came up with a set of suggestions that we are hoping community groups will carry through on to help get kids attending class more often."

A public meeting in February helped spark a list of suggestions on how they can get youth attending class on a regular basis.

To help give students an incentive to come to class, Butler is cooking lunch for the classes with the highest overall attendance and the class with the most students who had perfect attendance through a given month.

"It's a good way to get the kids involved and something they can look forward to," he said.

"We're offering pieces of fruit and snacks in the morning and afternoons to help keep the kids in the classroom. We're working on a bunch of different incentives, these are just a few we have going right now."

Butler said the issue lies in the hands of the parents, who he said need to realize the importance of getting an education and need to show initiative in getting their kids to school on time. "They need to see the value of education for their kids," he said.

"It's the biggest issue to get their kids off to school on time in the morning. A child needs someone there to make them see the importance of getting an education."