Child and Youth Advocate Looking at Back to School Issues

Thursday, 20 August 2020 13:12

How will education plans be implemented? How will anxieties be addressed? What will the response be to new issues as they arise, and how can the solutions take pre-existing advocacy issues into account as well? Child and Youth Advocate, Annette King

Students across the Yukon are returning to school for the 2020/21 school year and Yukon's Child and Youth Advocate Annette King is wondering what issues this school year will bring. She says, "The COVID-19 situation is creating new obstacles families have not experienced before, and is intensifying problems that already exist".

The Yukon child and Youth Advocate Office has been conducting an independent review of the barriers to school attendance in the territory for the past year. "Inconsistent school attendance has been a widespread problem in this territory," says King. "There are numerous children who are not adequately accessing their right to an education. Is the situation for these children going to get even worse?"

In the Advocate's discussions with children, parents, First Nations, professionals and educators, it is clear that there is a shared vision to improve education for children and youth. How will education plans be implemented? How will anxieties be addressed? What will the response be to new issues as they arise, and how can the solutions take pre-existing advocacy issues into account as well?

"The social impacts of the pandemic can have lasting impacts on how children develop," says King. "The manner in which adults translate their own stress, and constant state of uncertainty, directly relates to how children will cope. Everyone will need to continually adapt to this new reality and put the needs and rights of the children in the forefront of decisions being made about them. We want to encourage everyone to continue to reach out and get the support they need. We want to hear what is working and what isn't."

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