If the Yukon's education system is to provide a balanced, valuable education that's engaging for children, schools have to be integrated with other community organizations, says Joe Linklater, chief of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation.

Linklater spoke as a panel member of an education forum held at the Yukon Arts Centre last Thursday evening. He said he and his fellow band members are actively seeking alternatives to the current education system to give their children a more well-rounded education.

The forum, hosted by the territory's NDP caucus and titled Reclaiming Our Future, was attended by 30 to 40 people.

Speaking as a panel member, Linklater said he and other Vuntut Gwitchin leaders would like to see community groups partner with schools in a more progressive approach to education.

'The education system needs to be opened up and integrated with other programs and services in the community.

'We (Yukoners) spend $100 million a year on education; why are we not leading the nation?' Linklater asked members of the audience.

Other panel members included Yukon Teachers' Association president Sandra Henderson, special-needs advocate Joie Quarton, guest speaker Kevin Chief from Winnipeg, educator Mary Sloan and Pat Cassidy, the Department of Education's programs director.

All panelists had a variety of views on updating the education system: from offering more skills-oriented programing to ensuring that teachers understand that many children have different learning styles to offering more technical courses to give students a greater variety of choices in the Yukon's curriculum.

Speaking as a guest panelist, Chief, the executive director of the Winnipeg Aboriginal Sport Achievement Centre, said children, specifically aboriginal children, need to be encouraged to stay in the school system by extracurricular activities which foster a sense of belonging.

'(The centre) is an organization which promotes belonging; that's what schools should do,' he said.

'Young people who come from poverty don't feel like they belong in the school community.'

Chief said in his own organization, which promotes youth leaders and role models, thousands of aboriginal children have been encouraged to stay in school.

'We're going to see the biggest changes in our children through education.'

Chief and his organization advocate a partnering of non-governmental organizations and the education system to encourage children to stay in school.