(File photo/northeastNOW Staff)

By Aaron Schulze

Hope and Future: Education

Hope and Future: public and post-secondary education aim to provide more

Dec 31, 2020 | 12:47 PM

The COVID-19 pandemic makes 2020 a year many may prefer to forget but there is hope for the future. We’ve decided to make that the focus of our series of end-of-year stories.

Distance, masks, markers, sanitizer, class size limits, and video conference calls.

Those were some of the changes students Northeast Saskatchewan students faced along with the rest of Canada amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

While those challenges will remain in place for a chunk of 2021, public schools and post-secondary institutions are eager to ensure education remains efficient.

Horizon School Division Director of Education Kevin Garinger said 2020 taught him and the board of education how resilient and strong the families, staff, and students are within the division. The plan for 2021 is to have contingencies in place for further challenges.

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“I’m so proud of the work that staff, our board, and our students and families have done through this,” Garinger said. “There’s a need to continue the important work around insuring our children are getting the best education possible. We’ve had significant shift in terms of having children learn from home and distant learning. We’ve been able to manage that. We recognize we’re still dealing with the pandemic and we need to continue to manage that effectively.”

Garinger said he looks forward to continuing conversations with students and families to determine their needs and meet them in 2021 and seeing projects progress such as the new school build in Lanigan.

His message of hope to families, staff, and students is they have greater things in the future because of what they do today.

“We know this is a temporary matter,” Garinger said. “As we’ve had to adjust plans and recognize the new realities, we always have that idea that the future is going to be much brighter. With that future, comes the work we do today so we can enjoy that. As 2021 begins, we’ll continue to look at the opportunities that we provide to our children, to give them the things they’ve been missing throughout this past year.

“We’ll all continue our due diligence and make sure we can look to that time and support each other so we can get to a place that we consider more normal.”

In post-secondary, Cumberland College President and CEO Mark Hoddenbagh said their goals for 2021 is to have a hard launch for its coalition with Parkland College, keep having conversations with the communities they’re in, and continue helping their students be better prepared for employment.

“We have learners in many different ages and demographics. Whether it’s college training, adult basic education, university, or corporate training. Whatever it is to provide the best quality service and education. When our students leave, they’re going to be prepared for their next stage in life,” Hoddenbagh said.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow