MONTREAL — How are languages taught is taught in Quebec schools? What’s a CEGEP? What’s Bill 104?
Global News takes a look at how the education system currently works in the province.
It’s elementary
Elementary school (or école primaire) begins with kindergarten (maternelle) and goes up to grade six.
And then?
High school (école secondaire) runs for five years — from grades seven to eleven.
When students complete what’s called Secondary V (or grade 11), they are awarded a high school diploma from the provincial government.
CEGEPs
After high school, most students go on to attend a general and professional education college (called a CEGEP, which is an acronym for Collège d’enseignement général et professionel).
The CEGEPS — or colleges — offer a number of vocational or pre-university courses.
Students typically attend for two years if they plan go on to university after, or for three years to complete a vocational diploma.
Private schools?
Private schools in Quebec are subsidized by the provincial government to the tune of $397 million dollars in 2003-04.
At that time, the average number of students attending private school in Quebec was 10.4 per cent – although attendance on the Island of Montreal is much higher – in 1994, it was 27.7 per cent and numbers now are cited at 67 per cent.
Most of Quebec’s English-language private schools receive about $4,500 per high school student a year. They do not receive subsidies for elementary students. By accepting money, they must abide by the province’s French Language Charter.
Bill 101
In Quebec, there are public and private English and French schools, and, like the rest of Canada, there are rules surrounding what students can attend what school board.
Quebec’s Charter of the French Language, also known as Bill 101, was introduced in 1977 and has a major impact on who can attend English schools in the province.
It states that all children must attend French language schools up to high school.
Parents can apply for a special dispensation so that their children can attend an English school in Quebec.
In order for the dispensation to be granted, the parents must be Canadian citizens and must have attended an English elementary school in Canada. If a child’s siblings attended an English school, an exception may also be made.
Bill 104
In 2002, Bill 104 was introduced.
This is a measure intended to stop Quebec students forced to attend French-language schools from taking advantage of a loophole, where a student could attend an English private school for a year in order to receive special dispensation and get around Bill 101.
Comments