Today is the 17e consecutive day of strike for 370,000 students in Quebec. Seventeen school days represent nearly 10% of the compulsory school attendance days provided for in the Public Education Act. It is enormous!
Despite this alarming situation, the CAQ government does not seem to realize the urgency of the situation. We don’t have time to wait until we’ve digested the turkey and the atocas before acting!
The president of the Treasury Board hopes to settle the collective agreements of the FAE and the Common Front by the end of the year. If she maintains this deadline, obviously, she does not share the same feeling of urgency that inhabits the parents. Parents are worried and for good reason, 40% of schools will remain closed for a total of 23 days. Leaving aside the pandemic, the last time this happened was following the ice storm. For other schools in Quebec, it’s a total of 12 days without school. Needless to say, the first stage bulletin is compromised. It remains to save the day for the start of the school year in January.
Ministerial tests
When classes return in January, some students will have to take ministerial tests. How can we impose these exams on them knowing that thousands of them have had no school learning for weeks? How can we think that these tests will be fair knowing that the school attendance of these students will have varied from one school to another?
The tests scheduled for January are a predicted failure. Canceling the ministry exams scheduled for January is the only decision that is necessary and the government must also start thinking about other ministerial exams scheduled for later in the school year.
This reflection must be done with a learning catch-up plan in mind.
And the success of our students?
According to Michel Girard, the Quebec government saves approximately $150 million in wages per day of strike in the public and parapublic service. Is he ready to commit to investing a single day of these “savings” to put in place a real national educational catch-up plan, accessible to all students affected by the strike?
The $20 million announced to counter the delays caused by the pandemic were not enough to prevent a 30% increase in school dropouts. The Prime Minister who brags about making education his priority should be moving heaven and earth to find solutions. He should do everything possible to prevent this negotiation from harming the educational success of our young people. We all know the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on school dropouts and student educational success. We do not have the luxury of making them suffer the impacts again, for a second time in three years.
If Christmas is coming soon, for students, parents, teachers and school staff, the management of the CAQ negotiation is far from being a gift. The government has a dual obligation to achieve results: settle collective agreements with a negotiated agreement and present us with a plan to catch up on school learning.
It is in the face of challenges that we measure a prime minister’s sense of priorities.
Marwah Rizqy, Member of Parliament for Saint-Laurent and spokesperson for the official opposition on education and for the Treasury Board
2023-12-13 05:24:34
#Legault #prove #education #priority
