Father | Educator | Inspirer
“while speaking with residents in Ward 5 and 7, many parents have shared with me that with the rising cost and interest rate, the first activity to cut in their family budget is their child’s after-school activities such as private math tutoring.”
Expanding the Tutoring Support Program at YRDSB
Over the last two school years, students at YRDSB have encountered great challenges in their academic learning. The pandemic has dramatically changed the way students learn. In class and online, regardless of the learning option they were given, many students are falling behind in their academic learning today.
Teachers are also facing unprecedented challenges in the way they deliver learning materials. Last year, teachers at YRDSB were tasked to teach students in a hybrid setting- teaching students in-class and online simultaneously. It was very challenging and obviously, teachers were not able to fully focus on teaching materials and were often distracted by the technology failure (e.g. internet failure, webcam disconnection, blurry image, etc). We can only conclude that the past two school years have been a challenge for everyone but it was the students who suffered the most and consequently resulting in poor academic performance.
This is why an ongoing and expanding Tutoring Support Program is needed to help students catch up academically. YRDSB currently has a tutoring partnership program with only a few local non-profit community partners. I believe we need more community partners to get involved to expand the YRDSB tutoring support program in order to help students to achieve academic success.
The program can be delivered right after school ends. The mandate is that students must receive tutoring assistance without any fee. This program is not a subsidized payment to private tutoring services.
This is the opportunity to remove barriers for students who are at risk, in racialized communities, or with disabilities, to benefit from equal opportunity to succeed academically. Students with special education needs can benefit from this program. They will be able to achieve academic success through a smaller group tutoring setting, and a greater focus on their academic needs.
Further read: The Provincial Government had dedicated $175 million to help expand student support in tutoring, literacy, and special education.