The Office of the Auditor General is providing a progress report on the education of Aboriginal students in the B.C. public school system.
Carol Bellringer said the system is still not supporting Indigenous students to have the same success non-Indigenous students enjoy.
“Indigenous students, on average, are still not doing as well in school as non-Indigenous students. These performance gaps can have a significant impact on their futures. Among other things, there are gaps in their graduation rates, reading, writing and math assessments and how safe Indigenous students feel in school.”
Bellringer said the province, however, is making progress since the report was released with 12 recommendations back in 2015.
In 2015, the graduation rate for Indigenous students was 24 per cent lower than for non-Indigenous students.
The gap is now at 16 per cent.
In the Cowichan Valley School District the graduation rate in 2016/17 for Aboriginal students was 49 per cent. In 2017-18 it went up to 53 per cent.
The graduation rate for Aboriginal students in the Nanaimo Ladysmith School District for 2017/18 is 62 per cent, up from 52 per cent the year before.
