The Ministry of Education will not release the number of COVID-19 cases in schools this fall, as was the case last year. As for teacher absences, they are simply not compiled.
Posted at 12:15 p.m.
Data on student absences “is collected first and foremost for public health authorities,” said Department of Education spokesperson Bryan St-Louis.
The ministry “considers that the presence of minimum sanitary measures and the current situation do not require the publication of data on absenteeism”, continues Mr. St-Louis.
The Press obtained these figures from the Ministry of Education earlier this week. On October 12, 3,942 students were absent due to COVID-19, or only 0.32% of the 1.25 million Quebec students. However, this is a higher number of absences due to COVID-19 than on June 14.
The Ministry of Education does not intend to ask schools to provide figures on staff absenteeism. “Public Health’s monitoring needs only related to student absenteeism,” continues Mr. St-Louis.
However, the absence of teachers who must isolate themselves due to COVID-19 remains a “puzzle” for school administrators, where the banks of substitutes are sometimes already empty, two months after the start of the ‘school year.
“As soon as a teacher or another member of staff tells us that he has COVID, it is extremely difficult to find a replacement”, testified this week Nicolas Prévost, president of the Quebec Federation of School Directors. education (FQDE).