Tuesday January 13 2015
The
Leader
‘WE CANNOT ALLOW THOSE PEOPLE TO WIN’
SURREY STUDENTS SURGE AHEAD ▶ HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATE NOW TOPS THE PROVINCIAL AVERAGE SHEILA REYNOLDS
The number of Surrey students graduating from high school within six years was the highest ever last year, with nearly 89 per cent successfully completing Grade 12. A recently released Ministry of Education report shows Surrey’s “completion rate” rose 2.7 per cent in the 2013-14 school year from the year prior. Surrey’s rate was four per cent higher than the provincial completion level of 84.2 per cent. Surrey students, including those with English as a second language, outperformed those across B.C. in almost all categories. The high school completion rate for students with special needs in Surrey was slightly lower than the provincial average – 60.6 per cent compared to 62.2 per cent provincewide – while aboriginal student completion rates locally were on par with the B.C. average at about 61 per cent. A significant jump in the performance of Surrey’s aboriginal students helped drive the district’s percentages up. While the rate of aboriginal students graduating is still less-than-optimal at 61 per cent, it’s 13 per cent higher than it was the year prior, when fewer than half successfully finished Grade 12. However, the pool of aboriginal students is relatively small – about 250 – so even a handful more students graduating bumps the percentages up considerably. “A second successive year of significant improvements in our six-year completion ▶ “A second rate for all students is a testament to all the hard work put in by students and staff successive year in Surrey schools,” said Trustee Shawn of significant Wilson, chair of the Surrey Board of Education. improvements... is He said while pleased to see high results a testament to all for aboriginal students, “there is still a long way to go.” the hard work put Females in Surrey continue to do better in by students and than males with 91 per cent finishing Grade 12 in six years, compared to 86 per staff...” cent of boys. TRUSTEE SHAWN WILSON
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Tara Singh Hayer, publisher of The Indo-Canadian Times, was shot and killed at his office in August of 1998 for his sharp criticism of the people responsible for Air India bombings. FILE PHOTO
▶ PARIS SLAYING OF 12 PEOPLE SPARKS MEMORIES OF THE ASSASSINATION OF SURREY NEWSPAPER PUBLISHER TARA SINGH HAYER KEVIN DIAKIW
While still in bed last Wednesday morning, Dave Hayer reached for his Blackberry at 6:30 a.m. and scrolled through the news items. He froze when he read about the killing of 12 people at a newspaper in Paris, France. It caused a chilling rush of déja vu for the former Liberal MLA for Surrey-Tynehead. The news accounts described how three attackers wearing black and wielding Kalashnikov au-
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tomatic rifles stormed the offices of the French magazine Charlie Hebdo and shot 10 journalists and two police officers. All died in the attack. On Thursday, one of the suspects turned himself in to police and on Friday, the two other men involved were killed by police after taking a woman hostage in a printing plant north of Paris. continued on page 3
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