The Toronto District School Board is the largest, and one of the most diverse school boards in Canada. Nearly one-quarter of our students were born outside of Canada and collectively, we speak more than 120 languages. Understanding all cultures is essential to the success of our young students today as they transform to our future leaders of tomorrow.

To honour this, we formally recognize 14 heritage months throughout the year. During the month of January we’re excited to be starting off the New Year by celebrating Tamil Heritage Month. This year the chosen theme selected by the volunteer planning committee is, Vision 2020: Yengal Kathaigal - Our Stories / Vision 2020: எங்கள் கதைகள் - Our Stories.

Toronto has the largest Tamil population outside of the South Asian subcontinent with thousands of TDSB students and staff members heritage identified as Tamil. All have stories of their journey of how they or their families arrived in Canada, and how they continue to embrace this country as their home. The attached poster reflecting the theme is being shared with all schools. Our intent is that it will be used as an educational tool to examine stories within and across cultures of students in the TDSB and how they shape our individual and collective identities.