The unions fear that the opening of the Drainville reform to distance education will serve to make up for the lack of teachers in the schools, which infuriates the Minister of Education.
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“Our great fear with distance learning at the moment in the context of shortage, is that we are using distance learning more and more freely to fill a lack of staff or a lack of premises”, said Friday Mélanie Hubert, president of the Autonomous Federation of Education (FAE), passing through a parliamentary committee. The Central Trade Unions of Quebec (CSQ) shares the same concern.
Minister Drainville’s bill allows preschool, elementary and secondary educational services to be provided remotely in “exceptional or unforeseeable situations”.
Mme Hubert recalls that during the pandemic, the use of distance education was “catastrophic for many students”, especially for young people in difficulty. The right to the image of teachers and students also worries the FAE.
Skirmish between Drainville and the FAE
But the fears raised by the unions irritate the minister. In an exchange for the less full-bodied with the president of the FAE, he deplored that the trade union center does not retain anything good from its reform.
Bernard Drainville clarified that the use of distance learning is mainly aimed at sick children, who cannot go to school. “How can you be against that?” he cursed.
Mélanie Hubert replied that young people with health problems are not currently without services, far from it.
“I taught a student who had cancer and we were homeschooling with this student, there are other ways at the moment to educate students who are sick!, insisted the trade unionist . And if being critical is a problem in a democracy, I wonder where we are going.