High school completion rates up for Indigenous, special needs students in B.C.

VICTORIA – The B.C. Education Ministry says high school completion rates across the province are on the rise and the greatest gains are among Indigenous students and people with special needs.

The ministry says 65.9 per cent of Indigenous students were completing high school within six years as of the 2016-2017 school year.

That marks a 2.1 per cent increase over the previous year and a 19 per cent increase from a decade ago.

Students with special needs finished high school last year at a rate of 69.4 per cent, up 2.4 per cent from the previous school year and over 25 per cent in the last decade.

Those rates still lag behind the overall graduation rate of 84 per cent.

Education Minister Rob Fleming says the improvements for Indigenous and special needs students is a positive step, but he says more work needs to be done.