Drainville “surprised” that students are exempted from 6th grade

Bernard Drainville will unveil Thursday the priorities of his term as head of the Ministry of Education. Visiting a school on Wednesday, he said he was “surprised” to learn that students in difficulty were going directly from 5^e year to 1^D secondary because they had repeated a year, and promised to see to it.

Every year, more than a thousand young people who have experienced learning difficulties make the leap of a school year because the law stipulates that primary education must be completed in six years, revealed The Press tuesday. However, this path varies according to where the students live in Quebec.

“I was very surprised by this story. We are doing research, first to see if it happens often, then how we are going to manage it, ”said Mr. Drainville. The Ministry of Education does not know how many students in difficulty are sent to secondary school before completing their primary education.

The Minister of Education visited the primary school of the Archipelago, in Léry, in Montérégie. He was accompanied by Prime Minister François Legault, who thus discovered a so-called “new generation” school.

“When we started the first term [caquiste]I had asked Jean-François Roberge [alors ministre de l’Éducation] to design a new model of schools, beautiful schools where there is more light, where we use wood, aluminum, where we have more common spaces,” recalled Mr. Legault.

The director of the establishment, Joanne Roy, gave a tour of the owner to the two elected CAQists.

Are there speech therapist and remedial pedagogue positions to be filled?, inquired François Legault, before adding that “it is difficult to find”.

” No. Not here,” the director said.

“People must like it working in a new school,” continued the Prime Minister.

“Walls don’t teach,” retorted M.^me Roy. It’s the people in it and the way of working. Places are at the service of all that teachers can or want to do. »

In a press scrum later, the Prime Minister added that “obviously the most important thing is the staff”. “It’s the teachers, but working in a good context helps,” added Mr. Legault.

The shortage “compromises services”

The director general of the Grandes-Seigneuries school service center also notes that recruiting staff is difficult.

“Almost all of our positions are filled. The challenge is replacements and holidays during the year,” says Kathlyn Morel. More than one in ten teachers are “novice”, she says, meaning they have less than five years of experience or are not legally qualified.

The Executive Director believes that the staff shortage is the first issue that Minister Drainville should tackle.

What’s more, this school service center welcomes an average of 650 more students each year.

“One in two schools lacks space. From adding space, building schools, renovating schools, expanding classrooms, we need it,” said Kathlyn Morel.