Canadian language school files for bankruptcy, leaving students stranded

Canada’s largest private language school has filed for bankruptcy and stopped operating, leaving current and incoming students in uncertainty. The International Language Academy of Canada said on Friday that it could no longer keep running and cancelled all classes immediately. The school operated in Vancouver and Toronto and offered Englishlanguage courses, high school classes, and college programs. Its closure affects about 1,300 students, including José Carlos Chavez, who had already paid nearly $14,000 in tuition for a program set to begin in Vancouver next month. Industry representatives said they are working to move current students into other programs, but the outlook is less clear for people who had not yet started. The school said it had struggled financially for three years, pointing to regulatory changes and a drop in international student numbers in Canada.