The B.C. government continues to fail British Columbians with its refusal to fund adult basic education.
Adult basic education is simply providing adults an opportunity to retake high school level courses. These courses are accessed by future doctors, nurses, engineers, and tradespeople upgrading skills so they can fulfill a course requirement or get a better job. The government’s own research shows that 78 per cent of new jobs will require some form of post-secondary education.
With skyrocketing tuition fees on undergraduate courses, adding another fee to high school level courses is making it even more difficult to attend college or university, adding to the financial squeeze B.C. families are already feeling.
The 2017 B.C. budget was an opportunity to reverse this cruel cut to adult basic education. Instead, the government refused to fund these essential courses.
Our communities rely on people getting the education they need to participate in the job market. Why does the government continue to make education more and more difficult to attain?
As someone who not only takes upgrading courses but rather sees how these fees affect folks within the classroom, it is incredibly disappointing that the government is willing to block students the right to adult basic education.
They should be about creating access, not refusing it.
Morgan Rogers,
Okanagan College Students’ Union, Executive Chairperson