Quebec government infringes on English colleges
An amendment to the law requires English-speaking students to take some courses in French.
Quebec has long been trying to protect the status of the French language in its territory. There are plans to "freeze" the number of students entitled to receive a specialized secondary education in English. The government believes this measure will reduce the total number of college students in English, from 31,993 in the 2021-2022 school year to 30,834 by the 2039-2040 school year.
There are now 147,708 French-speaking students in Quebec colleges. Their number must increase to 244,686 in the academic year 2039-2040. To achieve this goal, the government wants to prohibit French high school students from enrolling in college programs that are taught in English.
Parents of students worry about something else: Most English-speaking students, if they are required to take and pass three required courses in French, will not be able to do so. This means that thousands of graduates will graduate from college with poor grades and will not go to university.
Representatives of the Quebec Liberal Party, which originally proposed studying subjects in French for all, including English-speakers, said they had not studied the issue enough and would vote to repeal the amendment. But that may not be enough.
