Despite assurances that there would be limited disruption to students as the NORTEP/NORPAC program transitions to a new provider, it appears the transition has hit a bump in the road.

A press release sent out by NORTEP/NORPAC Wednesday blames the government and Northlands College for the confusion, but it appears the conflict runs deeper.

Last year the province announced it would no longer provide funding to the NORTEP/NORPAC council for their northern teacher education programming, instead directing the funds to a post-secondary institution to administer the program. A joint committee was formed to look at the various options and recommend a way forward.

Back on March 15, provincial Minister of Advanced Education Bronwyn Eyre announced Northlands College had been selected to administer the program.

This was contrary to the joint committee’s recommendation from late last year that Gabriel Dumont Institute GDI be the program administrator.

Instead, Eyre said, GDI, along with the University of Saskatchewan and University of Regina, would be part of an advisory committee assisting with the transition.

On March 25, Northlands College and the NORTEP council met to begin the transition process.

According to Northlands College president and CEO Toby Greschner, NORTEP had recently voted to turn over all of the program assets to GDI. This caught Northlands off-guard.

For more on this story, please see the April 20 print or e-edition of the Daily Herald.