Nunavut schools closed to students for rest of school year

Nunavut'sEducation Minister David JoanasieannouncedFridayduring a news conference that schoolsin the territoryare closed to students for the rest of the school year due to COVID-19.

"The well-being and success of Nunavut's children and youth is the top priority of the Nunavut Department of Education," said Joanasie.

He said learning will continue and teachers are expected to continue on with their lessons and provide a final report card,despite these closures.

Report cards would be based offassessments from September until March, prior to the schools being suspended, said Joanasie.

Teachers are expected toreport for workon April 21, thoughJoanasie said there will be flexibilityandsome staffwill beableto workremotely.

"Nunavut school staff are vital to ensuring our students do not fall behind in their education."

Along with creating learning packages and preparing year-end report cards, teachers are also being asked to check in with families on a weekly basis to "see how they are progressing and if they need any extra support or resources."

Exams cancelled, 'learning packages' developed

The territory's Department of Education has developed guidelines to help school staff prepare "learning packages" to meet the specific needs of their students, said Joanasie.

Given technology limitations in the territory, especially in smaller communities, he said that these packages will come in different mediums "some will be paper-based, some will be activity-based, and some will be electronic."Howthese packages will be distributed will vary from school to school.

For families who are currently on the land who might not be able to receive these packages, he said activities on the land such as hunting and fishing "compliment student learning" and are encouraged by the department.

In addition, "departmental exams"are cancelled for high school students, said Joanasie.

"High school diploma exams for this year are cancelled. High school marks will be based on coursework only," said Joanasie.

He said thedepartmentwants to work with teachers to helpGrade 12 studentswho are on track to graduate to complete their diploma "when eligible."

Previously, schools and daycare centres in Nunavut were told by the Department of Education toremain closed untilApril 20.

Missed the news conference? You can watch it here.

Nunavut governmentreduces news conference updates

This week, thegovernment of Nunavut reduced itsregular news conference updates to three times a week, as no cases of COVID-19 are reported in the territory.

Ongoing test numbers are reported on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

As of Friday,430 have been tested andthere are still 231people under investigation for COVID-19 in Nunavut. So far, 199people have tested negative.

On Thursday, officials extended the territory's public health emergency until April 30.

Nunavut's chief public health officer Dr. Michael Patterson said diagnostics are the territory's largest challenge as it works to respond to the pandemic.