Relief for parents and also for children who were returning to school after the strike, which forced the closure of certain establishments for more than a month. The return of students took place on Tuesday after an educational day the day before for several schools.
At Saint-Clément primary school, in the borough of Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, the frenzy spread among students and parents who were returning to their usual routine after 22 days of strike and two weeks of holiday vacation.
“We are happy that things are starting again, especially in terms of learning,” explains Marilou Patenaude, whose daughter Amandine Rémillard and son Dimitri attend primary school. We don’t do the job that teachers do. » The mother was not too worried about catching up, she was able to read and complete workbooks with her children almost every day. Her daughter Amandine was impatient to find her friends and, above all, her teacher.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
For Roxanne Lord, it is a relief to see her daughter Danaë return to school. The mother will be able to return to work after having been absent for the duration of the strike. But Danaë was rather reluctant to return to class.
Marion, Aya and Yanka, who are in 6e year, fear the road ahead before entering secondary school, some secondary schools require certain passing grades. “We will work harder to get into a secondary school,” says Yanka. “There was already COVID, we had to get back to that,” says Aya wearily. “We didn’t know it was going to last this long,” exclaims Marion.
“Mathematics, French, all the classes that are harder, their results will drop a little,” believes Jimmy Paquette-Plouffe, who sent his three daughters back to primary school. He enjoyed spending time with them, he said, but he believes they have already forgotten several lessons learned before the strike.
David Pennors, whose two children, Milan and Yuna, go to Saint-Clément school, says he experienced the strike relatively well. “There was mutual help between parents, but the children were eager to start again,” he relates. He has a special thought for parents who have children who are experiencing academic difficulties. He believes that the delay will be difficult for them to make up for.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
It was back-to-school day for David Pennors’ children, Milan and Yuna
An observation shared by many experts who are concerned to see the disparities between students widening in Quebec. Vulnerable students may have more difficulty catching up, especially those who have missed almost a month of school. Only the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE) launched an indefinite strike, which caused the closure of 800 schools for 22 days. Other establishments, whose employees are members of the Common Front, were closed for 11 days. In private schools, students were not deprived of lessons.
At Chomedey-Maisonneuve high school, the teenagers were less eager to return to school. Aryane Grenier-Richard, in 3e secondary school, admits that he was bored during the strike, which also lasted for several weeks for them. But it is mixed compared to this extraordinary return to school.
Raynald Duquette is alarmed by the time spent by his son, who is in 1D secondary school, playing video games during the strike. “We took time to do exercises, but he really increased his time on his Xbox,” he explains. He hopes the school will provide the support his son, who had academic difficulties before entering high school, needed to succeed in the year. He says he is ready to do anything to help him catch up on the material.
Education Minister Bernard Drainville presented his catch-up plan on Tuesday morning, which provides $300 million to help students by adding tutoring for those with special needs.