For another year there are fewer students across the province than the year before.
Overall, the B.C. school system is expected to lose another 6,000 students this year, a thousand fewer in the city of Vancouver alone.
Even at one of the only growing districts, Surrey, enrollment will be relatively flat this year.
Bucking the trend is the growing popularity of French Immersion. There will be nearly 1,500 more French Immersion students this year than last.
“The biggest reason that I hear often is that they’re just really looking to challenge their kids, and they want their kids to learn a second language,” said Glyn Lewis from Canadian Parents for French BC & Yukon. “Now French being the official language of Canada, obviously it makes sense. You know, it makes sense travelling east and west within the country, but then I know a lot of students who then, after they’ve learned French and English will go off and learn Spanish or Mandarin, or all these different languages. So we see French as a gateway to a host of other languages.”
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