The President of NAPE believes that Memorial University’s Social Work program will be key to addressing vacancies in rural areas of the province.

A government-NAPE joint committee has been discussing the issues faced by social workers, one of which is the lack of support in rural Newfoundland and Labrador.

President Jerry Earle says that while there may be a need to recruit social workers from outside the province, the committee believes the School of Social Work at Memorial University is the key to addressing vacancies.

Earle says that in the long-term, the province has to do a better job of increasing the number of seats in the program, as well as recruit young people from all across the province.

He says that someone who is recruited into the program from a rural area is more likely to return to that community when they have finished their schooling.