Some parents are disappointed by the recent tutoring plan announced by the Quebec government.
On Wednesday, the province announced its plan to recruit tutors to help students affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
It announced that Alloprof and Tel-jeunes, student help organizations, are getting a total of $12 million to boost services.
Alloprof will get the bulk of the funding – $7.3 million over two years.
Katherine Korakakis, president of the English Parents’ Committee Association (EPCA) says that while this is good news, it’s only good news for part of the population.
“The minister has used taxpayer’s money to fund an organization (Alloprof) that doesn’t offer any services to the Anglophone community,” she said.
“There is nothing wrong with the organization, it does great work, but our children are also falling behind, and our children also need tutoring services.”
Korakakis said parents are having a having a difficult time getting help from organizations like Learn-Quebec, which serves the English-speaking community, because of the increase in demand since the start of the pandemic.
Learn-Quebec says they have seen a 200-per cent increase in their online tutoring services since March of last year. They have also doubled their team of tutors.
In a statement to Global News, a spokesperson for the organization said no one from the education ministry has contacted them about extra funding so far.
“We welcome this initiative from the Minister of Education,” said Carolina Toteda, spokesperson for Learn-Quebec. “We are always eager to collaborate with all of the stakeholders to offer resources and to support student success, families and contribute to community vitality.”
“Parents are telling us they have to wait a month to get services,” said Korakakis. “And the report cards haven’t even all came out yet.
“We’re expecting 30-40 per cent failure rates.
Quebec’s education ministry said it chose Alloprof and Tel-jeunes because they are well-known and “have the necessary means to support students from all over the province, remotely.”
It added that the services provided by the two organizations will be in French as well as in English.
A spokesperson for Alloprof told Global News that the number is variable, but the organization “makes sure to always have two teachers or more, in each subject, able to respond to English-speaking students.”
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