EAST CENTRAL — Data collected from the North East School Division (NESD) found three per cent of students in the region have no internet access, and seven per cent only have access through a data plan.
Out of 4,343 students surveyed, 112 students in the division are without access to online coursework. Three-hundred-and-sixteen students have to use a data plan to conduct their online coursework.
Five per cent of students in the region, which translates to 219 students, said they had slow and unreliable access to the internet.
Rempel said each case will be conducted on a case-by-case basis by the school.
“There are provisions for families to learn without access to technology – now at least we know how many students we need to make that accommodation for,” Rempel said.
“We’re surprised by the amount of connectivity there is, nonetheless we have about 10 students in each grade out of our 5,000 students in the division that don’t have access to sufficient bandwidth or internet.”
He said on April 21 that teachers should be prepared to have supplemental learning in place by the end of the week.
“We’ve had teachers do a lot of work to get up to speed on distance learning supplemental learning and different ways to provide it,” Rempel said.
“The environment has been created, the opportunities are going to be made available and now we’re entering the stage where it’s about delivery and the back and forth interaction with the teachers and students.”
Parents were also surveyed on if they believe they can support their child’s education for the short-term future. A total of 4,330 parents were surveyed.
One per cent said they would not be able to provide support, which makes up 55 of the parents. Five per cent said they need a great deal of help, which makes up 234.
Fifty-one per cent said that they would be able to provide a great deal of support. Forty-two said they could provide some support if they have help.
