Here we go again. In the midst of the surge in COVID-19 cases, distance education will be in place for at least two weeks, until January 17, in elementary and secondary schools, as well as in CEGEPs and universities in Quebec, announced Thursday the Prime Minister, François Legault.
The government intends to do everything to reopen the schools on the scheduled date, said Mr. Legault. “Schools, you know, for our government is what is most important. […] These are the first establishments that we will reopen, ”he said.
Parents and school staff have greeted this predictable news with caution, given the skyrocketing infections. More than 16,000 cases of COVID-19 were reported in Quebec on Thursday, not counting people who had a rapid positive test or who were unable to take a screening test for lack of staff.
“We always say that the place of children is in school, but this is no longer possible with the current wave,” responded Sylvain Martel, spokesperson for the Regroupement des committees de parents autonomes du Québec, which includes Montreal and Laval regions.
He notes that the school system is well established in virtual education after 21 months of pandemic. Teachers, students and their parents have mastered digital platforms after a series of school closures since the first confinement, in spring 2020.
“As parents, we have already acted in the film, we know how it goes. If there are failures, they will be difficult to justify, ”says Sylvain Martel.
Schools are ready for distance education, this week told the Duty Line Lachance, vice-president of the Association québécoise du personnel de direction des écoles. Schools have enough laptops and digital tablets, she said.
Patricia Clermont, of the I protect my public school movement, is nevertheless worried about the distribution of digital devices, which remains to be done in a very short time. She fears that schools or service centers are short of devices, because all of Quebec finds itself confined to the home, and not a limited number of classes or regions.
As for daycare services, they remain open as usual, but those in schools will be reserved for children of essential workers, said the Prime Minister.
Ventilation
For his part, Sylvain Mallette, president of the Autonomous Federation of Education, says he is worried about students with learning delays. Distance education is necessary to “break the wave”, but he says he wants vulnerable young people to have access to professional support.
Earlier this week, he also insisted that Quebec give a boost to ventilation in the classroom by speeding up the installation of air exchangers. He recalls that schools are the main place of transmission of the virus in Quebec, with half of the outbreaks.
“It is high time that we seriously talk about ventilation in our schools and centers. It is hard to understand the delay in this file when we know that it is an unavoidable factor on which we can intervene to limit the spread of the virus, ”added Éric Gingras, president of the Central Trade Union. of Quebec.