Quebec Auditor General Guylaine Leclerc has confirmed what many parents already suspected. Distance education in times of a pandemic has caused immense harm to students with learning difficulties, and the Ministry of Education has failed in the implementation of this emergency measure.
The result suggests the outbreak of a silent epidemic, i.e. the accumulation of delays in learning and the emergence of a sacrificed generation that will be tossed about on the dead end of failure and dropping out with all the insults. about self-esteem and personal growth that we can predict.
In her complementary observations to the Auditor General’s report, the Commissioner for Sustainable Development, Janique Lambert, emphasizes the long-term benefits of educational success for students and society. Success not only guarantees a diploma or a job, but also personal fulfillment and a higher standard and quality of life.
We therefore produce, in numbness, the left-behinds of tomorrow.
Before the March 2020 confinement, nearly a quarter of all Quebec students had already been diagnosed with a disability, adjustment difficulty or learning disability. This is enormous, and the resources were already not keeping up with the needs of families and students pressed by the limits of the school environment.
At the end of the health emergency, the Quebec Ministry of Education (MEQ) does not have studies allowing it to have a global vision of the extent of the challenges, notes the auditor general. How can it be imagined that it will be able to implement the remedial measures that will be necessary?
However, the MEQ did not skimp on special measures and expenses during the pandemic, an exceptional situation if ever there was one. Quebec can boast of being one of the nations that have closed schools the least. However, many decisions were made without hard data, such as setting up an $88 million tutoring program or investing $42 million in little-used video conferencing devices.
The Auditor General’s report paints the portrait of a drifting department and school service centers that have an urgent appointment with the use of evidence and its dissemination to support decision-making. Québec’s future success depends on it, individually and collectively.