Low literacy rates were a hot topic at the Anglophone East District Education Council meeting last night.
Despite hard work by many groups and organizations, New Brunswick has the second worst literacy rate, only ahead of Newfoundland and Labrador.
According to Statistics Canada, 50 percent of the population between 15 and 65 years old do not have the necessary literacy levels to compete in the workplace.
Tamara Nichol is the Chairwoman of the Anglophone East District Education Council and she says addressing literacy early on is key.
She says, “Now that we have early childhood development involved in education combining those departments all into one, I think we’re going to start really seeing some huge differences because we’re going to be identifying those students early on.”
Nichol says some of the problems are socio-economic, preparedness for school, as well as things as simple as kids showing up hungry.
