First Nation schools blamed by OECD for high drop-out rates while underfunding by INAC ignored as cause
Press Release
Aboriginal Youth Drop-Out Rates a Weak Spot In Canadian Education, OECD Says
(CEP News) Ottawa - Canada enjoys an enviable rate of youth employment and education, but must address drop-out rates among disadvantaged and aboriginal youths, says a report released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
"The situation in Canada with the transition from school to work works rather well, but there is a group of disadvantaged youth, either from deprived social backgrounds or aboriginal backgrounds that underperform, and underperform quite badly," said the report's author, Martine Durand, deputy director of the OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs.
Just hours before the federal government was to make an apology to Aboriginal Canadians for the residential school program which plucked First Nations, Inuit and Métis children from their communities and forced them to attend church-run schools, Durand said aboriginal youths are now more likely to drop out than their non-native counterparts.
"Aboriginal youths especially those who study on reserve are much more disadvantaged. They drop out much earlier, they don't complete secondary education, twice as many as the average do not complete secondary education and then they are over-represented in the social assistance program and as repeat EI recipients," she said.
Durand was critical of school systems on reserves, saying they do not appear to follow national standards despite receiving funding from the federal government.
"We think the federal government should be more demanding that these schools impose at least at the same level of standards as other schools," she said, adding that conforming to such standards is important, particularly for those young people who do decide to pursue post-secondary education and need their competencies recognized by universities and colleges.
"There should be more accountability on the part of the schools to the Federal government," she said, calling the problem one of the main weak spots in Canada's education system She said that in a peculiar twist, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal youths often drop out to take well-paying jobs in the booming resources sector. However, she said this can lead to problems long-term as the young people get older and find they do not have transferable skills when they lose their jobs.
Durand said the federal government should invest in promoting the benefits of staying in school and said provinces should limit the hours people under the age of 18 can work and make school attendance mandatory.
"It's so hard for young people to project themselves into the future," she said.
By Sean McKibbon, smckibbon@economicnews.ca,. edited by Cristina Markham, cmarkham@economicnews.ca