Manitoba GED instructor waiting to learn about test replacement

The end-of-day school bell is ringing on a high school equivalency test.

Decades after failing to complete her high school education, 64-year-old Debbie Seniuk is going back to school.

"When I was younger I had grand mal seizures and everything so it was hard for me,” Seniuk said. “It was mostly my reading and writing. Math was pretty good."

She and more than a dozen other students in her Open Doors adult literacy class are hitting the books in hopes of passing the General Educational Development (GED) test.

But come May, the GED program will stop. The American company that runs the program will no longer offer it in Canada.

Margaret Banasiak, the director of Open Doors is waiting to learn what it'll be replaced with.

"I don't know what it's going to look like,” Banasiak said. “The GED I'm very familiar with so I'm going to have to do a lot of studying myself."

The Province of Manitoba says it is still finalizing its plans for the GED's replacement.

“While this change will affect a small number of people, our government is committed to a seamless transition to ensure that Manitobans are not negatively impacted by the discontinuation of the GED,” Minister of Advanced Education and Training Renée Cable said in a statement.

The Province of Alberta says it’s working on the Canadian Adult Education Credential with the intention of being available to all Canadians next year.

Students looking to learn tell Banasiak not having a high school diploma or equivalent is a barrier in the workforce.

In 2013 -- four-year high school graduation rates in Manitoba were at 76.2 per cent. Last year -- that number was at 82.8 per cent. That rate is much lower for Indigenous students with just over half making it to graduation within four years.

According to the province - more than 43,000 adults have gotten their GED certificates in Manitoba. Banasiak has seen hundreds of students get GEDs in her 50-year teaching career.

"It's rewarding to see them progress and be part of their journey going on in life to better lives through education."

She will keep teaching things she knows students will need as she waits to hear what will replace the GED, good news for students like Seniuk who are only partly through their education journey.

"I've always wanted to go for massage therapy, that's why I came back. To better myself,” Seniuk said.