BC’s Auditor General says the province has taken steps to close the gaps in education of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students.

A 2015 report found the graduation rates for Indigenous students was at an all time high in the 2017/18 school year at 70 per cent, but still 16 per cent lower than their non-Indigenous counterparts. It’s an improvement from 2015 where the graduation rate was 24 per cent lower.

Carol Bellringer says there are also gaps in reading, writing and math, and the government is making progress, slowly.

“The progress on all of our 12 recommendations including four that it has fully implemented,” she said. “Another five of the 12 are likely to be fully implemented once the Ministry completed its actions currently underway and planned, and with the final three recommendations, the ministry has taken some action, but still has work to do.”

Graduation rates have nearly doubled the Indigenous graduation rate in 2000, which was at 39 per cent.

“Indigenous Students on average are still not doing as well in school as non-Indigenous students. These are strong indicators of a student’s future well-being,” added Bellringer.

Her audit is also calling on education officials and Indigenous leaders to develop strategies to eliminate the outcome gap for BC’s students.

Bellringer also says the ministry has work to do in areas such as developing an Indigenous Education strategy, ensuring collection of important data around student success and reporting publicly on progress.