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Montreal school boards could offer grade 12

Extra year could help relieve overcrowding in CEGEP system

To help relieve chronic overcrowding in Quebec’s CEGEP system, a Montreal school board wants to offer grade 12. In Quebec, students graduate high school after grade 11, and those hoping to pursue post-secondary education attend two years of CEGEP, roughly equivalent to the final year of high school and the first year of university. However, due to increased demand, many students were denied spots last year, and the province provided a $1 million in bridge funding to help make room for more students.

Lester B. Pearson School Board, which currently provides grade 12 for international students, wants to offer at least one other grade 12 program. “With so many children unable to get into an English CEGEP, there could be a real need for this,” board chair Marcus Tabachnick told the Montreal Gazette.

While Quebec universities admit out-of-province and international students with grade 12 directly into university, it remains unclear if the same rules would apply to Quebec residents. Because the school board has no mandate to offer grade 12, there likely would be no public funding, meaning students would have to pay for the extra year.

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