Joseph Quesnel: Ensure accountability for First Nation schools

Tuesday, March 6, 2012  

"A national panel on First Nation elementary and secondary school education is calling for more funding, and for the creation of a First Nation education system.

Most on-reserve First Nations lack a meaningful school system, including school boards, or anything comparable to a provincial ministry of education. The First Nation education culture is centred around Aboriginal Affairs sending cheques without meaningful standards or enforcement. For many reserve education directors, the prospect of signing an agreement assuring students transferability to off-reserve schools has become a joke — because no such transfers are possible in practice.

This must change. Fixing Aboriginal education should not just be about enlarging reserve school budgets and creating First Nation school bureaucracies. Equally funded band schools won’t guarantee accountability or better student outcomes. All Aboriginal parents should have a maximum range of school choice."

Get the Story:
Joseph Quesnel: Expanding educational choices for First Nations families (The National Post 3/6)