The ministerial tests being held this week in Quebec secondary schools will not be experienced in a “uniform” way by students at this level, teachers note. They deplore the absence of an air conditioning system in many establishments in the province at a time when it is being swept by a heat wave.
Nikanik secondary school, located in the Attikamek territory of Wemotaci, in Mauricie, will close its doors for a second day in a row, Wednesday, due to the oppressive heat, with the temperature felt expected to exceed 40 degrees again in the afternoon. noon, as will be the case in several other regions of Quebec. Only the ministry exams scheduled for these two days have been maintained, and they will take place in one of the school’s only two air-conditioned premises, since it is “impossible to cancel” or move these tests, the school said. on Facebook late Tuesday afternoon. “Canceled exams will not be retaken given the end of the school year,” adds the establishment.
“Faced with the extreme heat wave, it did not seem necessary to us to continue our activities and our evaluations in this context,” explains in an interview with Duty the director of the school of 150 students, David Gascon. Otherwise, if local science and history exams had been held as planned on Tuesday and Wednesday in “non-air-conditioned” premises of the establishment, the results obtained by the students would have been undermined by the “very unpleasant” temperature there. reigns, believes the director. “The objective is to verify the students’ achievements in the best conditions,” adds Mr. Gascon, who therefore preferred to cancel these evaluations.
An effect on success
The school service centers of Montreal, Laval and Longueuil contacted by The duty for their part confirmed that their schools remained open this week. Some establishments welcoming primary school pupils have, however, modified the activities offered, for example by canceling sports competitions which would have been held under a blazing sun to favor outings in the water games which are found in particular in several municipal parks , in Montreal as elsewhere.
In secondary schools, however, it is proving difficult for management to show imagination, since ministerial tests worth 20% of the students’ final mark take place there until Thursday. A gap is thus widening between schools with access to air conditioning and those which must rely, to cool the ambient air, on standing fans as well as the opening of classroom doors and windows.
“It’s a uniform test, but we don’t have the uniform conditions to pass it,” says Marion Miller, who teaches in a Montreal high school without an air conditioning system, where the mercury rose on Tuesday. “We ask students to get up more often to fill their water bottles,” but that does not create “a context that is fair for their learning,” laments this teacher.
“In many schools in Quebec, young people have difficulty concentrating [en raison de la chaleur]. They will want to get out of their class as quickly as possible,” while schools should normally offer optimal conditions for students to complete their exams, says Sylvain Duclos, a teacher in a secondary school in Chaudière-Appalaches. . However, “it can have a very significant impact on the success of young people,” he argues.
“Game-changing” air conditioning
Specialized educator Lisvé Rodriguez is delighted to be working this year in an air-conditioned school in Montreal North. Joined by The duty On Tuesday, she said she had previously worked in establishments in the metropolis which are not air-conditioned and where the effects of heatwaves are therefore particularly felt. “When there is heat, the students are much more tired, and for us, as employees, it is more difficult to do our tasks,” emphasizes M.me Rodriguez. Conversely, the students at his current school “are much more concentrated”, since the temperature of the premises is not stifling.
Air conditioning in schools “is a game changer,” notes Sylvain Duclos, who deplores that the Quebec government does not seem to make this issue a priority. “We have the impression that this file is always postponed and that it is not moving forward,” sighs the teacher.
An observation shared by Patricia Clermont, who is spokesperson for the I protect my public school movement. “The Mr. Freeze and water is not enough,” she says, adding that “it is not acceptable that an indigenous community has to close a school” due to the heat, as is the case in Wemotaci. According to her, “it takes policies” so that schools are ready to face new heat waves that could occur at the next school year, this fall.