Combatting school dropout rates through mentorship

With the new school year, it’s crucial to provide Quebec students with the resources they need to thrive.

Given that dropout rates among young Montrealers exceed those in other parts of the province—where more than 1 in 5 students leaves the educational system without a high school or professional degree compared to about 1 in 7 elsewhere—specialized support is essential for helping them earn a diploma.

That’s where the School of the Greats program steps in.

“We have different challenges in Montreal. For one thing, I mean, education is important for a lot of parents, but not all of them are equipped to help their child. So when you have three jobs and you’re working at nights to put some food on the table, you don’t necessarily have time to help your kid with their homework. And this is where we come in,” said Alisha Wissanji, professor, researcher, and founder of the School of the Greats.

This highlights the growing importance of mentorship programs, which play a key role in boosting academic success and graduation rates for Quebec students.

“Our mission is to contribute to equal opportunities and provide a real access to educational success to these at-risk populations with a vision to prevent and reduce poverty through education,” said Wissanji.

The program offers help for French, English, science, and math classes to students in grades 1 through 6 from disadvantaged backgrounds.

“Teachers select at-risk students from these elementary schools and we allow them to come to the college nearby on Saturday mornings from 9 to 12. We start today with a breakfast. We do homework, help, science awareness activities. They get to come to these labs here and put on their lab codes, goggles and do some science with their mentors, mentees. And at noon they go back to the school, elementary school where parents pick them up.”

On Thursday, Education Minister Bernard Drainville announced the end of ‘course retakes’ in the school system, meaning high school students will no longer have the option to pass a course after failing it.

This move highlights the need for strong support systems, and the School of the Greats is one that benefits both students and mentors.

“We’re seeing something incredible in the sense that these are volunteers, college students, they’re waking up at 8 o’clock in the morning on the Saturday morning to come here. They get a lot of satisfaction to help just a child reach its full potential,” said Wissanji.

The founder of the mentorship program invited any college interested in joining the program to reach out:

“There’s a lot of needs to respond to. We’re welcoming any college that would like to participate in these activities to join the program.”