<P> Kindergarten (or its equivalent) is available for children in all provinces in the year they turn five (except Ontario and Quebec, where it begins a year earlier), but the names of these programs, provincial funding, and the number of hours provided varies widely . For example, the Department of Education in Nova Scotia refers to Kindergarten as Grade Primary . </P> <P> Ontario offers two years of optional kindergarten (junior kindergarten for four - year - olds and senior kindergarten for five - year - olds). At French schools in Ontario, these programs are called Maternelle and Jardin . In 2010, Ontario increased both years to full - day programs, while BC's single year of kindergarten became full - day in 2012 . Quebec offers heavily subsidized preschool programs and introduced an early kindergarten program for children from low - income families in 2013 . Students in the Prairie provinces are not required by statute to attend kindergarten . As a result, kindergarten often is not available in smaller towns . </P> <P> Dependent on the province the age of mandatory entry to the education system is at 4--7 years . Starting at grade one, at age six or seven, there is universal publicly funded access up to grade twelve (age seventeen to eighteen), except in Quebec, where secondary school ends one year earlier . Children are required to attend school until the age of sixteen (eighteen in Manitoba, Ontario, and New Brunswick). In Quebec, the typical high school term ends after Secondary V / Grade eleven (age sixteen to seventeen); following this, students who wish to pursue their studies to the university level have to attend college (see Education in Quebec). Quebec is currently the only province where Grade 12 is part of postsecondary, though Grade 11 was also the end of secondary education in Newfoundland and Labrador prior to the introduction of grade 12 in 1983 . </P> <P> Ontario had a "Grade 13" known as Ontario Academic Credit (OAC) year, but this was abolished in 2003 by the provincial government to cut costs . As a result, the curriculum has been compacted, and the more difficult subjects, such as mathematics, are comparatively harder than before . However, the system is now approximately equivalent to what has been the case outside of Quebec and Ontario for many years . </P>

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