NWT students ‘miss more than a day of school each week’

A years-long crisis in attendance at NWT schools is continuing and, in some cases, getting worse. In one region, 90 percent of students are “chronically absent.”

New figures published on Monday by the territorial government show the overall attendance rate for the 2024-25 school year was 73.1 percent.

“This means, on average, students in the NWT missed more than one day of school each week,” the territory’s latest education performance measures report states.

“Students who miss one day of school per week will, on average, have missed three years of school by the time they finish Grade 12.”

In smaller communities, attendance is now a fraction above 60 percent. A decade ago, it was closer to 80 percent.

No matter the size of the community, school attendance across the NWT has dropped significantly since the pandemic. While the GNWT noted attendance has “stabilized” in the past two years, even increasing slightly in regional centres, it has stabilized at a lower level.

The Grade 10 attendance rate is 47.2 percent in the Sahtu, 38.1 percent in the Beaufort Delta and 35 percent in Tłı̨chǫ communities. (It’s above 75 percent in Yellowknife.)

The Tłı̨chǫ Community Services Agency, which is responsible for education in Tłı̨chǫ communities, recently published an annual report that describes the “dramatic impact of chronic absenteeism” on students and schools. The TCSA says 90 percent of its students are chronically absent, which it defines as missing at least 10 percent of learning time.

Students arriving in Grade 12 can be “at least four years behind” as a result, the TCSA stated in its report.

“There has been a significant reduction in attendance due primarily to social determinants of health,” the TCSA report asserted. According to TCSA data, 23 percent of Tłı̨chǫ Grade 4 students and 54 percent of Grade 7 students “report going to bed after midnight on school nights.”

“Attendance is the number one factor in student achievement. Community and family-based strategies are essential to improve attendance in all grades in the future,” the report concluded.

The TCSA’s chief executive officer could not be reached. The NWT government declined to make education minister Caitlin Cleveland available for this article prior to the territory’s latest report being made public on Monday. (Cabin Radio had seen a draft version.) Cleveland is expected to comment later this week.

“Unfortunately, this is not a new conversation,” NWT Teachers’ Association president Rita Mueller told Cabin Radio.

“I don’t have a solution to it. As a former teacher, principal and teaching principal, I know schools really do make an effort to try to develop good relationships with students, family and the extended community. But it really takes a partnership.

“It takes an entire community to get behind public education and say: this is of absolute value to us as a community, and we want to ensure our school is supported to meet the needs of our students.”

YK graduation rate drops

In a news release accompanying the figures, the territorial government tried to emphasize some positives.

For example, the GNWT noted that 85 percent of four and five-year-olds were enrolled in junior kindergarten or kindergarten during 2024-25 (though this is down from 93 percent in 2019-20).

But for the most part, the performance measures report set out widespread issues that stretch beyond attendance.

In 2024-25, 56 percent of students enrolled in Grade 10 were re-enrolments. “In other words, over half of the students in Grade 10 in the 2024-25 school year were previously enrolled in Grade 10 in either the 2022-23 or 2023-24 school years,” the report stated.

Indeed, barely half of NWT students now finish high school within six years of starting Grade 10. The six-year graduation rate for 2024-25, 54 percent, is the lowest recorded in the past decade.

There is a 34-percentage-point gap between the 78-percent graduation rate for non-Indigenous students and the 44-percent graduation rate for Indigenous students, a gap that has remained consistent for the past 10 years.

In Yellowknife, the graduation rate dropped nine points between 2024 and 2025.

As with attendance, the GNWT’s report asserts that “the Covid-19 pandemic and other unplanned events” are likely to have had an impact on graduation rates.

Lastly, the performance measures report found that only about 34 percent of NWT children arrive at Grade 1 developmentally “on track.” In small communities, that drops to 20 percent.

A child is “on track” if they are considered to be doing well in physical health, social competence, emotional maturity, language and thinking, and general communication abilities.

In a written statement, the territorial government said “challenges such as student attendance and achievement continue to require attention.”

“These are not new challenges, and they remain a focus for the education system. The GNWT continues to work with education bodies, educators, Indigenous governments and community partners to improve outcomes for students,” the territory stated.

Schools ‘have to be priority’

Adam Murray, the superintendent of Yellowknife Catholic Schools, acknowledged the figures show “the toll the last few years have taken on our kids” – ranging from Covid-19 to wildfires and beyond – but he argued YCS has seen “some really encouraging signs of recovery.”

He expressly linked the drop in Yellowknife’s six-year graduation rate to the pandemic and wildfires, noted YCS students had an 82-percent attendance rate, and said the metrics for early childhood development required context.

“When a child is flagged as ‘vulnerable’ or ‘in flux,’ it doesn’t mean they are failing,” Murray said by email. “Vulnerable” and “in flux” are the categories other than “on track” for student development by Grade 1.

“It just points to exactly where we need to target early support,” Murray wrote.

“The data proves early intervention works: Forty-eight percent of children who attend licensed childcare for two or more years arrive ready for school. Expanding access to those early spaces is how we move the achievement needle for Grade 1.”

Overall, Murray wrote, “YCS feels well positioned to continue to support each student socially and academically this upcoming school year.”

Even so, many schools are preparing for an academic year without tens of millions of dollars in Jordan’s Principle funding. The withdrawal of that funding by the federal government has resulted in dozens of layoffs affecting NWT teachers and educational assistants.

For more than a year, education bodies, unions and the NWT government have all said the money should be reinstated or else students will suffer, particularly those who need additional supports.

Earlier this month, Mueller said she had heard nothing to suggest the federal government will reverse its position. She estimates the territory will be missing about $30 million as a result, even allowing for a $40-million intervention the GNWT has put together.

“It’s going to be devastating, the effect that lack of support is going to have,” said Mueller, who drew a line between education funding and the job creation promised by major projects and large-scale defence spending in the North.

“Unless the GNWT invests more into our public education system, the workforce for the future of the Northwest Territories is going to be compromised. It has to be a priority,” she said.

“That starts by funding our public education system adequately. We are millions of dollars behind what our schools need to be able to provide for students.”