Sharp rise in home-schooling for Montreal Hasidic children

The number of Hasidic children in Montreal being educatedat home has jumped dramatically over the past two years, following a crackdown by the Quebec government onultra-Orthodox Jewishschools.

There are currently 705Hasidic childrenregistered to be supervised by the English Montreal School Board. That is a threefold increase since 2015, saidAngela Mancini, the school board's chair.

"When you're at 705 children, that's a school,"Mancinitold Radio-Canada. "That's like a small school."

The increase comes as Quebec education officials have been attempting to better regulate the schooling ofHasidic children, due to concerns that many attend schools that don't follow the provincial curriculum.

Last summer, aschool in the RosemontLa Petite-Patrie borough was raided by youth protection workers, escorted by police.

As part of the crackdown, the government has encouraged parents in theHasidiccommunity to sign home-schooling contracts with school boards.

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To begin taking exams

The demand for such contracts has proven so great that the EMSB has had to hire additional staff. In addition, the school board will start administering French, English and math exams to home-school students.

"These are children who haven't written exams in the past. They don't have the same path as the students in our schools,"Mancini said.

"The goal of the exams is really to ensure that the children have all the capacities, all the possibilities to succeed to not put them in a failing situation."

Only certain students, at first, will write exams, but eventually all of them will,Manciniadded. The long-term goal is to have the students writeprovince-wide ministerial exams as well.

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Many of the Hasidic children enrolled in home-schooling programsstill attend private Orthodox schools, where they receive religious instruction. At home, they are taught standard subject matter.

At least one religious school, Yeshiva Toras MosheAcademy, has said it will help prepare its students for the school board exams.

"We obviously want to help them prepare,"JacobMaman, who heads the school's support services. "This is something different from what they've experienced in the past."