Minister Roberge’s trip to New York makes people react

–

Caroline Plante
The Canadian Press

A letter greeted Mr. Roberge on his return from New York, summoning him to visit a childcare center (CPE) and a regulated and subsidized family environment in order to learn more about the services offered to 4-year-old Quebecers. .

The Federation of Early Childhood Workers of Quebec (FIPEQ-CSQ) and the Quebec Council of Educational Childcare Services (CQSEPE) believe that the Minister’s plan to implement 4-year-old kindergarten for all within five years is misguided.

“I sincerely believe that he does not understand our network,” declared the president of the FIPEQ-CSQ, Valérie Grenon, in a telephone interview. Come and see our network, come see a childcare center, you will see that we are of quality. ”

Minister Roberge repeats that he wants teachers to take charge of 4-year-old children, especially those who do not have access to the CPE, by offering them a mixed program, that is to say socialization through play. , as well as literacy and numeracy.

This approach, which is already well established in New York, would promote early detection and fight dropping out of school, in addition to promoting equality of opportunity.

According to M^me Grenon, the childcare centers and regulated family environments are already in action; in particular, they work on awakening to reading and writing with children by following a quality educational program.

In any case, according to her, “as long as the child is not autonomous to meet his primary needs, he will not be ready to learn academic notions”. 4-year-old children must also learn to manage their emotions, argues the union leader.

“Why is he going to New York?” To be inspired? Before you wanted to invest so much money, you should have gone for inspiration first. And if you need inspiration, come see what we have in our network, you could be inspired by our network ”, added M^me Grenon.

Common Front of Opposition Parties

The trip to New York also made all opposition parties roar in the National Assembly on Wednesday.

“You don’t have to travel to New York to understand that the American system is different from the Quebec system,” said liberal education spokesperson Marwah Rizqy.

Among other things, Quebec can already count on childcare services at reasonable prices, which was not the case for the American metropolis at the time of the deployment of its universal 4-year-old kindergarten, insisted PQ member Véronique Hivon.

She denounces the “marketing operation” of the Minister, who “improvises” in this file which he deals with a lot of “casually”. According to her, the government remains unclear on the number of 4-year-old kindergarten classes to open and the total cost of the operation.

“The least of things is to have an extremely detailed, costed plan, with regional distribution. […] We still have no plan ”, lamented M^me Hivon.

Christine Labrie, from Québec solidaire, agreed. “Going to New York now, months after he tabled his bill, it just shows how wrong he’s doing things in the right order,” she said. The 4-year-old kindergarten project is sorely lacking in a plan. ”

The study of Bill 5 of the Legault government on 4-year-old kindergartens should begin at the end of the month.

–