Curriculum approved: Nunavik high school grads will once again receive standard diplomas

High school students in Nunavik, Quebec, will once again be able to receive standard high school diplomas, after the region's school board made changes to its curriculum to meet provincial standards.

Between 2015 and 2017, Nunavik high school graduates did not receive standard secondary school diplomas. Instead, they received certificates of equivalence.

• Nunavik's school board stopped issuing high school diplomas in 2015

• Nunavik school board's prez says province partly to blame for diploma debacle

This was because the Quebec Ministry of Education said the Kativik School Board had failed to revise its curriculum in math and science by a 2012 to 2013 school year deadline to match new standards set in 2000.

But now, according to the school board, the math and science programs in question have been evaluated and found to meet provincial requirements.

Just in time for new school year

"The Kativik School Board is glad to inform Nunavimmiut that as of the current school year, students who complete their secondary studies will receive a Secondary Studies Diploma from the Quebec Ministry of Education," states an Aug. 25 news release.

Some students were concerned their diplomas weren't "real" because they were issued as "attestations of equivalency" rather than as standard diplomas.

They said their education could have left them at a disadvantage compared to other graduates in the province.

The situation was aggravated by the fact that some students and alumni only learned the high school diplomas were no longer standard Quebec secondary school diplomas through word of mouth. 

At the time, the school board apologized for its failure to communicate, but said part of the blame for the failure to meet the deadline to adjust curriculum lay with the province. The school board said the province hadn't committed the resources required to allow the school board to meet its deadline.

In Friday's news release, Kativik School Board president Alicie Nalukturuk did not outline specific changes to the curriculum that brought it up to provincial requirements, but she did state that the province had signed off on it.

"The school board's programs [in mathematics and science] were examined by the Ministry of Education and determined to be at par with the programs offered in the rest of the province," she said.

Nunavik students will face two final exams before graduating with a full diploma: the Quebec ministerial exam in mathematics and a Kativik School Board-designed year-end exam in science and technology.

The board is pledging its full support to help students pass their final exams, and is working on a solution for students who didn't receive full diplomas between 2015 and 2017.