During the summer, 10 times more allophone students enrolled in schools in the Montreal school service center (CSSDM) than during the same period last year. Nearly 1,000 more young people will be learning French in the reception classes at the start of the school year.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
In total, indicates the CSSDM, 988 students have been admitted to the reception class since June 30, compared to 110 students at the same time last year.
Reception classes are intended for allophone pupils, who learn French there before joining a regular class. The number of these classes had fallen sharply due to the pandemic, but since the borders have reopened, school service centers have to adjust again.
Since the beginning of June, the Marguerite-Bourgeoys school service center in the West Island of Montreal has registered more than 450 students in reception classes, three-quarters of whom are preschool and primary, and the others young people who will attend secondary schools.
About twice as many students were enrolled this summer as at the same time last year.
The Pointe-de-l’Île school service center has registered 165 students in its reception service since 1er June, but not everyone will find themselves in a language class, it is specified.
Director General of the Immigrant Community Support Center (CACI), Anait Aleksanian observes that the summer period is traditionally “very busy” in terms of immigration.
Often, immigrants wait for the end of the school year in their country and come to settle in Quebec. You feel it much more this year because there was a lull during the pandemic.
Anait Aleksanian, Executive Director of CACI
For immigrant families, raising children is the priority, says Anait Aleksanian. “Often, newcomers immigrate so that their children have a better future. Education is at the top of the list,” she observes.
A “complicated” return
In the context of staff shortages, will these new students put additional pressure on schools?
The president of the Montreal Association of School Principals, Kathleen Legault, believes that the start of the school year – which will take place on Friday in two of the three service centers on the island of Montreal – will be “complicated”.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Kathleen Legault, President of the Montreal Association of School Principals (AMDES)
If there are new arrivals, it takes new teachers. That may mean that we will be hit harder by the shortage in the Montreal region this year.
Kathleen Legault, President of AMDES
When allophone students became rarer, the specialized teachers who worked with these young people went to ordinary classes, observes Ms.me Legault.
“We may have lost teachers along the way,” said Catherine Beauvais St-Pierre, president of the Alliance des profs, which represents CSSDM teachers.
Some were told that they wouldn’t have a reception class job this year, and as a result, they may have chosen to go and work in other service centers outside of Montreal, she advances.
“Students arriving in Quebec need to learn French with teachers specialized in this task,” she says. French as a second language teachers are responsible for teaching the language to these new students.
In many cases, they will help their parents navigate French in Quebec, says Anait Aleksanian, of the Immigrant Community Support Center.
“The children learn French very quickly. Often, they are the ones who help the parents with the translation,” says Ms.me Aleksanyan.
Learn more
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- 50
- Number of countries from which new students welcomed by the CSSMB come from since 1er June. These include Ukraine, Afghanistan, Libya, Angola and Colombia, among others.
Source: Marguerite-Bourgeoys School Service Center (CSSMB)