Global InformationEducation in British Columbia information
| Educational oversight | |
|---|---|
| Minister of Education | Rachna Singh |
| National education budget (2020-2021) | |
| Budget | CAN$ 5.01 billion[1] |
| General details | |
| Primary languages | English |
| System type | Regional school boards shares power with provincial government |
| Enrollment (2019–2020) | |
| Total | 665,679 [2] |
| Attainment (2020-2021) | |
| Secondary diploma | 86% [3] |
Education in British Columbia comprises public and private primary and secondary schools throughout the province. Like most other provinces in Canada, education is compulsory from ages 6–16 (grades 1–10), although the vast majority of students remain in school until they graduate from high school (grade 12) at the age of 18. In 2020, 86% of students in British Columbia graduated from high school within six years of entering grade 8.[4] It is also common for children to attend kindergarten at the age of 5, it is increasingly common for even younger children to attend pre-school or early learning programs before their formal school age years.
Public schools are the most common form of school in British Columbia, enrolling approximately 576,000 (86.5%) students in 2019–2020.[5] Public schools are broadly administered by the British Columbia Ministry of Education, although each of British Columbia's 60 public school districts are governed by a board of school trustees that are elected alongside municipal mayors and councilors every four years. As education falls under provincial jurisdiction, the province's public education system is governed by the Government of British Columbia. In 2020–2021, the Government of British Columbia spent just over $5 billion on its K-12 education system, representing 22.3% of its provincial budget.[6] Although the primarily language of instruction in public schools in English, the Conseil scolaire francophone de la Colombie-Britannique was established in 1995 to operate French-language public schools for francophones throughout the entire province.
British Columbia also has the largest private school sector in Canada, enrolling 87,225 (13.1%) of the province's students in 2019–2020.[5] Private schools are officially and commonly known as independent schools. A wide variety of independent schools exist to serve particular groups within British Columbia; schools may be religious (e.g. Christian, Jewish, or Muslim), may teach according to a particular pedagogy (e.g. Waldorf or Montessori), may focus on particular disciplines (e.g. sports or fine arts), or may focus on university preparation. Compared to other provinces across Canada, independent schools are treated favourably in educational policy. Most independent schools receive 50% of the operational funding that public schools in the same school district receive from the provincial government and may award the province's certificate of graduation, the Dogwood Diploma.
A small minority of students in British Columbia are also homeschooled, with 2,454 students or 0.4% of the student population being homeschooled in 2019–2020.[5] British Columbia is unique in that many of the students educated at home are enrolled with or attend online schools.
- ^ https://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2021/pdf/2021_Budget%20and%20Fiscal%20Plan.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "Statistics Canada". 14 October 2021.
- ^ "B.C. Education System Performance - B.C. Public School Results School District: Completion Rates".
- ^ "B.C. Education System Performance - B.C. Public School Results School District: Completion Rates". studentsuccess.gov.bc.ca. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
- ^ a b c Government Of Canada, Statistics Canada (2021-10-14). "Number and proportion of students in elementary and secondary schools, by school type, Canada, provinces and territories, 2019/2020". www150.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2022-01-06.
- ^ Ministry of Finance (2021). "Budget 2021" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-04-20.