The school catch-up plan implemented in an “exceptional” manner following the Quebec teachers’ strike last winter has proven its worth, according to several stakeholders in the sector who would like this investment to become “recurring.” An avenue that the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, has, however, ruled out.
Last week, the school board of Cardinal-Roy in Quebec City took the bull by the horns and sent a letter to the Minister of Education asking him to renew for the coming years the $300 million catch-up plan that was announced at the beginning of January. This plan has made it possible to offer tutoring to students outside of normal hours and specialized educational activities to many young people, as well as free summer courses to 4th grade students.e and 5e secondary school students who failed subjects essential to obtaining their diploma.
“We observe that the measures put in place have a very positive impact on the motivation and perseverance of students” by making it possible to offer educational services “adapted to the needs of all students”, indicates the letter, including The duty obtained a copy. “It really had a big impact,” insists Dominique Richard, who signed this letter as chair of the board of directors of this secondary school, in an interview. She has not yet received a response from the minister.
The document therefore argues that this “additional support” put in place following the strikes by teachers who were then negotiating the conditions for the renewal of their collective agreements should not be “exceptional”, but rather “recurrent” in order to maintain the “educational conditions conducive to the educational success of all students”.
“Innovative projects” under threat
However, this additional funding is scheduled to end on December 31, despite the “very satisfactory” reports that Minister Bernard Drainville gave on this catch-up plan in February and at the end of April. The latter report indicated, among other things, that 175,000 students had benefited from tutoring services and that nearly 158,000 young people had received an educational support service funded under this plan.
“What the resources of the catch-up plan have done is that they have allowed schools to develop new projects, innovative projects. It would be a shame if they could not continue,” fears in an interview the president of the Montreal Association of School Principals, Kathleen Legault.
This catch-up plan has also allowed the Réseau réussite scolaire Montréal to increase the number of places offered in summer camps in the city, particularly for young people with literacy problems. It also allows the organization to occasionally offer individualized support to young people at risk of dropping out of school, among others, at a time when they really need it.
“There are serious yellow lights going on everywhere and the strike has made a situation that was difficult for many of them worse for some young people. And to think that helping them this year is enough to say that they have everything they need in their backpacks to complete their school career. […] “This is not true for all young people,” says the organization’s general director, Andrée Mayer-Périard. “All the indicators suggest that the needs will still be there next year,” she warns.
Students in difficulty “get the short end of the stick”
The president of the Quebec Association of School Management Personnel, Carl Ouellet, has also contacted the Ministry of Education to ask that the financial support linked to this catch-up plan become “recurring,” he told the Duty. “We would need these amounts in the long term because we are imaginative and we want to help our students. So, it is certain that if we have more money, we will be able to put in place structures to support our students who are having the most difficulty,” he believes. Otherwise, without a renewal of the funds provided for in this catch-up plan, the number of places offered in tutoring will decrease, as will the number of teachers who can offer specialized help.
“Once again, it is our struggling students who are suffering, unfortunately,” sighs Mr. Ouellet.
In this context, the Fédération des syndicats de l’enseignement is also urging Quebec to “renew these sums annually.” “This could only be beneficial for students in all sectors, including vocational training and adult education,” it added by email.
Joined by The dutyMinister Drainville’s office said it was pleased to see that this additional support deployed last winter was “a success.” “Now, we must understand that the catch-up plan was put in place exceptionally in order to minimize the impact of the strikes on students,” the office added. Its renewal is therefore not being considered by Quebec, although the minister assures that he wants to “continue to work with people on the ground to improve student success.”