One Yellowknife resident has been left in the dark after Aurora College cancelled a course he needs to become red-seal certified electrician.
Just one week before school was supposed to start, Michal Sobierajski was informed the eight-week Apprenticeship Electrician: Level 2 course would not be offered this fall. Whether it runs again in the winter depends on enrolment. Classes with less than five students are the chopping block, according to the college.
A red-seal certificate will open up job and salary options for Sobierajski; without it, he's spinning his wheels -- just as Aurora College was after some disastrous budget cuts earlier this year.
Aurora College cut its bachelor of education and social work programs earlier this year after cabinet slashed the school's budget by $1.89 million. The move was greeted with loud and sustained public outcry that led to a foundational review of Aurora College.
The college held off on immediately cutting the programs but admissions have been put on hold while the review continues.
The uncertainty is bound to drive even more students to choose colleges down south SA国际影视传媒� who will take their GNWT assistance funding dollars with them SA国际影视传媒� where it will be more tempting to remain after graduation.
The penny pinching is squeezing the college while the territory struggles to develop homegrown professionals SA国际影视传媒� which is the whole purpose of Aurora College in the first place. Education Minister Alfred Moses seems to think it better to shoot himself in the foot rather than staunch the brain drain that will result.
Our communities needs teachers, social workers and electricians, with deep roots in the territory, who understand the unique challenges of the North. Young people in the territory need professions that will allow them to stay in the NWT.
The GNWT's focus on the bottom line shows a lack of vision. Funding for built-in-the-North solutions to combat the brain drain and increase the territory's ability to recruit professionals is necessary for long term prosperity for everyone. If MLAs in the legislative assembly are serious about Northern diversification and growth they will insist the government hammer out a vision that keeps as many northern students in the North as possible.
Moses is acting like a miserly father, switching off every light in the house while students want to stay up late and study. Let there be light.
The more money the government saves with budget cuts to education, the more money spent on recruiting professionals from the south. The fewer the education opportunities, the fewer reasons there will be for Northerners to stay in the North.
