International Students and Department of Education

Department of Education: Many Island school populations have been transformed in the past decade. Of the approximately 20,000 enrolled in elementary and secondary schools on P.E.I., nearly 1,000 are international students. More than a third of those are from China. The Department of Education only began to recognize the need to adjust to that influx in 2006. , according to CBC. "They would show up at a school, the school wouldn't know what to do with them. They would take a transcript, put a student in a classroom, but with no idea of their language level." Spring Park School grade six teacher Maureen Diamond With almost one in 20 students in P.E.I. schools now coming from other countries, the Island's education system is continuing to adjust. "Immigration started to increase, families and students arrived, but with no planning," said Janet Perry-Payne, the Department of Education's English as an additional language administrator. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.