French immersion enrolment up in School District 27

More B.C. students are participating in French immersion than ever before.

That’s according to a new report by the Canadian Parents for French that showed French immersion enrolment has been increasing for 21 consecutive years.

Enrolment also hit another record for the 2018/19 school year in School District 27 with this new school year showing no signs of the program’s popularity slowing.

“We have 161 students registered for the french immersion program from K to 6 so that our numbers are up from last year,” assistant superintendent Harj Manhas said.

“And as far as our divisions go, we have now seven divisions in French Immersion and our classes appear to be right now they’re full; they’re maxed out with the collective agreement that we have, and it’s a good thing for our community and for our students.”

407 students or almost 8.6 percent of the entire student study body in School District 27 were registered in the program last year.

Enrollment in French immersion in School District 28 meanwhile showed a decrease with 194 students enrolled in 2018/19 compared to 201 in 2017/18.

Manhas said they won’t know official numbers until at least the end of next week.

“The only difference we have for this year is that we were able to have all our french immersion teachers who are qualified,” he said.

“Last year we had a number of teachers on with a letter of permission but this year our human resource department worked very hard in finding qualified French immersion teachers for the school district.”