The Minister-President of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation Pierre-Yves Jeholet (MR) cropped his Minister of Education on Wednesday evening Caroline Désir (PS) who had dismissed earlier the day the idea of an extension of classes during the summer holidays to make up for the weeks of suspension of classes because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I don’t want to come with any exclusives for the end of the (school) year“, reacted Mr. Jeholet to Belga.”No track is excluded today“.
For the Minister-President, before taking an attitude on this subject, it is important to wait first for the decision of the next National Security Council regarding a possible extension or strengthening of the containment measures before deciding on the organization of the end of the school year.
“I think we are experiencing a unique and exceptional crisis in its magnitude. There will therefore be exceptional situations, to be decided in concert with the various sectors. […] But what should guide us is the interest of children. This is what must prevail“, insists the head of the federal executive.”There is therefore no exclusive at this stage. It’s a government decision anyway“.
The idea of an economist who received a reserved reception
The idea to extend the classes on the summer holidays was put forward last week by the economist Geert Noels, believing that such a measure would be beneficial both to children and to the economy in general.
The proposal, which directly received a reserved reception from the teacher unions, has since been the subject of lively debate in public opinion, especially on social networks.
In a statement on Wednesday, Education Minister Caroline Désir said such an extension was not on the agenda today.
“The cabinet of Minister Caroline Désir and her administration are studying, progressively, the different scenarios concerning the educational consequences of the crisis if the National Security Council were to decide to continue the duration of confinement“, said his press release.
“The different options will of course be concerted with the federations of organizing powers, the unions and the federations of parents’ associations, but the extension of courses during the summer holidays is currently not one of these scenarios.“, concluded the text.
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