Quebec adult education centres reeling from cuts to French-language classes
CBC
School service centres across Quebec have stopped accepting new students for French-language classes due to financial uncertainty, leaving teachers across the province out of a job.
In Montreal, the Centre de services scolaire Marguerite-Bourgeoys (CSSMB) confirmed on Thursday it would cease enrolling new students for French-language classes at the start of the next session, putting an end to 12 teachers' contracts.
"Currently, we do not know what solutions the [Education Ministry] MEQ or [Immigration Ministry] MIFI are considering to compensate for the shortfall," a statement from the CSSMB reads. "Consequently, we have decided to stop registering new students at the start of the new session."
The decision comes weeks after the Legault government capped funding for French-language courses as the province struggles to meet rising demand for classes.
Quebec's Education Ministry is requiring school service centres not to exceed the funding levels allocated to French-language learning during the pandemic in 2020-21.
During a scrum at the National Assembly on Thursday, Education Minister Bernard Drainville cited the increase in immigration as the reason for capping funding for French classes.
"There's a limit to what we can pay and there's a limit, also, to what the taxpayer can pay," Drainville said. "The number of people has exploded because of [Prime Minister] Justin Trudeau's [immigration] policy. This is on him."
French-language teachers in Quebec City are expected to protest Friday morning in support of about 30 teachers whose jobs were cut at Centre d'éducation des adultes Le Phénix. Marie-Claude Choquette, vice-president of the teachers' union Syndicat de l'enseignement des Deux Rives, said eliminating those positions will lead to several classes no longer being offered. "We believed, apparently wrongly, that learning French was important to this government. It must review its decision and change course," Choquette said in a news statement published Thursday.
Facing job loss, 40 French-language teachers at Outremont Adult Education Centre in Montreal — which is under the CSSMB — wrote to Immigration and French Language Minister Jean-François Roberge last week, bemoaning the "dysfunction" of the government's current French-language-learning system.
In the letter signed by more than 200 Quebec French-language teachers, they criticized the government's decision to redirect funding for adult education centres to the Immigration Ministry's French-language classes and expressed concern over the fact that the government's online portal to register for the classes is only available in French.
"We often have to deal with 15 mother tongues, three or four alphabets, migration traumas, disabilities, completely different education levels and complicated paths," the letter said. "But we are qualified and experienced."
Since January, there have been over 35,000 people waiting to sign up for French classes in the province.
The average wait time to register for a part-time course between April 1 to Aug. 30, 2024, was nearly 81 business days, according to the Immigration Ministry.
The Outremont Adult Education Centre serves 400 French-language students across 24 daytime and night classes.
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