Future teachers who begin their last full-time internship this week are seeing their budget cut unexpectedly for this fall and will have to reluctantly go into debt, the scholarship on which they were counting no longer being offered. Higher Education Minister Danielle McCann promises to find a solution.
“It was received with great dismay and disappointment. Everyone will have to make sacrifices because of that,” says Alexann Leblanc, a fourth-year bachelor’s student in teaching English as a second language at Laval University. This situation comes as schools have been struggling to recruit teachers for some time and Quebec is trying to overcome the shortage. With a view to the start of the school year next week, 700 to 1,400 teachers would be missing.
Usually, teaching students benefit for their “internship IV” from the scholarship to support the perseverance and success of trainees, in the amount of $3,900, which is paid in two installments: the first at the beginning of the session , the second in December. This financial assistance is invaluable, and the students counted on it, the majority of the teaching internships of 15 weeks being unpaid.
However, in an email received last week from a student management officer at Laval University, Alexann learned that this scholarship would be replaced by Perspective Québec scholarships. Beginning this fall, this program aims to provide financial support throughout the course of CEGEP students and university students in several fields where there is a glaring lack of manpower, including education. For university students, the amount of scholarships is $2,500 per semester.
“The success of the internships to be validated, the payment of the scholarship [de 2500 $] can be expected around late January/early February,” the email read. Students will therefore not see the color of their money this fall.
“It was quite a blow, because I had chosen my internship environment based on the fact that I was going to have a payment this fall and that I was going to be able to concentrate 100% on studies”, underlines Alexann . She finally resigned herself to asking for a line of credit on Monday. “It wasn’t an option I wanted to take, because I wanted to graduate debt-free, which I had managed to do until this fall,” she says.
“We are all in this situation of uncertainty, and it has been like that all summer, adds Noémie Beaulieu. We did not know how much we were going to receive, or when. The student complains about a lack of clear communication and is also considering applying for a line of credit.
“We’re going to go into even more debt than we already are,” says Donna Cristina Obregon Diaz. They didn’t take into account the needs of the internship students, it’s really disappointing. »
McCann promises a solution
With the new Perspective Québec scholarships, a bachelor of education student will be able to receive a total amount of $20,000 over four years. But the transition between the two programs and the impossibility of having been able to plan their finances for the coming months are denounced by the students.
“It’s really bumpy, it’s not at all a delicate transition,” regrets Alexann Leblanc.
“The Perspective scholarship is $2,500 per semester, so $5,000 for the last year of university, adds Catherine Simard, also a fourth-year student. But for people like me who graduated in three and a half years, we are losers. »
“I would have preferred to have the $3,900 scholarship,” adds Donna Cristina Obregon Diaz. I have to pay my rent, and I won’t have the money. I’d rather be able to pay my bills right now than wait for a payment in 2023.”
Invited to react, the Minister of Higher Education, Danielle McCann, indicated that “it has always been very clear that the Perspective Québec scholarships would replace the scholarships to support perseverance, because they are much more advantageous annually”.
“That said, we are going to find a solution to maintain the amount granted by the former scholarship program for students who end their studies in the fall of 2022 and who have not benefited from the Perspective Québec scholarship, in order to ensure a fair transition between the two programs,” she added in a statement emailed to the To have to.
“I want to reassure the students, we want the most advantageous program possible for the targeted fields and we are going to make sure that no one is penalized. »
Education spokesperson for the Liberal Party of Quebec (PLQ), Marwah Rizqy, who was contacted like all the other deputies by student Alexann Leblanc, sent an email Tuesday morning to the Minister of Education , Jean-François Roberge, and Minister Danielle McCann.
“It’s changing the rules of the game in the middle of a match, launched the Liberal MP during an interview with The duty. My request is very clear: it is to immediately restore the scholarship to which they are entitled and to have a transitional measure for new registrations. »