Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, a question for the Minister of education.
When students face challenges like overcrowded housing, what supports are available to help them stay in school and finish their education? Thank you.
Thank you, Member from Monfwi. Minister of Education, Culture and Employment.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, many of our schools in the Northwest Territories have a staff member that they dedicate to supporting students and families. These days as well, we have many of our schools who have our kind of peer counselling program or wellness worker program, and so those are roles as well that also help students work through the variety and spectrum of challenges that our students are experiencing these days. And other programs that have seen quite a lot of success are our healthy foods program in our schools, which do draw students in. We end up with warm breakfasts, warm lunches, multiple meals during the day. And then in addition to that, education bodies can look at their staff and cohort and what the needs are of their students and have chosen different ways to address that and make sure that they're supporting students' needs where they're at. Thank you.
Yes, thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of ECE explain how the department is working to connect with young people and keep them engaged in school in small communities? Thank you.
Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, within our system, the department of education largely connects with the teachers themselves and the educators and makes sure that they're providing them with the support that they need. This can be either through meetings that I have with chairs and superintendents, along with officials from the department in our ed leaders’ meetings that happen multiple times a year. This happens also when I sit down with the NWTTA multiple times a year. But there's also professional development that happens from the department to the teachers, and a lot of that can be led or directed by what it is that the education body is looking for, because it's our teachers that spend all their time with students across the territory at the end of the day. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Final supplementary. Member from Monfwi.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, can the Minister of ECE commit to working with families to better support students and improve attendance and engagement? Thank you. In small communities.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the opportunity I have to connect with education leaders is through our education leader table meetings, and I can certainly commit to continuing to bring this forward to them. Attendance is something that we talk about quite often, and the Member has my commitment absolutely to continue to keep this top of mind and top of discussion because it's vitally important that our kids are in school. Thank you.
Thank you, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment. Oral questions. Member from Great Slave.
