Montreal, February 9, 2023 – The Quebec English School Boards Association (QESBA) is extremely disappointed that LEARN Quebec may not obtain adequate and crucial Canada-Québec entente funding for their very in-demand on-line tutoring program tailored specifically for the English minority community in Québec.
Since 2016, LEARN has provided an online tutoring program after school hours, making it available to all students across the province and ensuring a truly equal service. Since its inception, demand has grown year after year from 35,000 last year to a demand for close to 50,000 sessions this year, yet the Ministry has told LEARN they will only have enough funding for 31,000 sessions, clearly not enough to deliver the demand. LEARN was recently informed by the Ministry of Education that the funding received via the Entente Canada-Québec would not be enough to meet this year’s demand.
“The Canada-Québec Entente money is designed for funding minority language education programs and projects. We are having a hard time understanding why such a popular and necessary program to our community runs the risk of being cut,” said QESBA President Dan Lamoureux.
“QESBA has been asking for transparency from Québec’s Treasury Board for years regarding the disbursement of Canada-Québec Entente money with no luck. This is a program we cannot afford to loose for our students. We ask that the government of Québec ensure continued and adequate funding for LEARNs tutoring program,” concluded the President.
QESBA is the voice of English public education in Québec and represents 100,000 students in over 300 elementary, high schools, and adult and vocational centres across Québec.