With the thought of back-to-school shopping looming, Yellowknife Education District No.1 is providing parents a free alternative to buying school backpacks.
The board has announced it will hand out 200 backpacks to all kindergarten students across the district in preparation for the 2018-2019 school year.
The backpack includes an assortment of essentials for students beginning their learning career, said superintendent Metro Huculak.
Supplies include a lunch pail, five books, coloured-markers, pencil, eraser, school calendar and a folder to store homework.
Huculak said the Early Literacy Backpack program has been running for almost 10 years with the goal of cutting costs for parents.
“Starting school is costly so (the early literacy backpack program) is a great way to cut costs,” said Huculak. “It's important to give materials which help the students and the parents.”
He added supplying books and pencils allows parents to work with their children to improve reading and motor skills.
For the second year in-a-row the backpack program is sponsored by Adam Dental Clinic.
Hygiene manager Carolina Rojas said the dentistry is happy to continue sponsoring the backpack program because it wants to help improve education in the community.
“We always like to be a big part of the community and when there are children involved that only increases our interest,” said Rojas. “Anything that has to do with education is a part of who we are (as people).”
The first day of school at Yk1 is Tuesday, Sept 4.