10 SEPTEMBER 2014

(FREDERICTON, NB) – Literacy, health promotion and the restoration of trades and skill-based programs are at the top of the list of priorities for the education system under a Green Party government, Party Leader David Coon announced today in Fredericton.

"The other parties like to talk about how important education is, yet New Brunswick students go hungry to class every day," Coon said. "Our ping pong governments like to tinker with the education system, but they never seem to go the full course."

The Green Party is committed to establishing a culture in the classroom that ensures children reach their full potential. For instance, it proposes to tax sugar laden soft drinks and sink the revenue back into the school system to fund food and wellness programs, so no child goes to school hungry.

It is also committed to the development of a family-centred literacy program in elementary schools. Coon said a Green government would give teachers a prominent role in the development and evolution of educational policy and how it is implemented.

"We have well-trained and highly skilled professionals who should have a hand in developing education policy," Coon said. "They are the ones on the ground who know best how to overcome the day-to-day challenges faced in the classroom."

A Green government would restore trades and skills-based curricula in middle and high schools, expand apprenticeship and co-op placement programs and expand school-based arts programs including visual, musical, folk and dramatic arts.

It would also introduce citizenship studies and outdoor education curriculum to promote healthy, active lifestyles and community engagement, and would support the full implementation of the provincial inclusion policy.

"My party has a different vision – one where every young person in the province has a chance to reach their full potential," Coon said. "I am certain this platform contains all of the right ingredients for healthy and thriving schools and universities."