Twice in recent weeks, the Ministry of Education has appealed to the network for caution regarding the solar eclipse of April 8.
The ministry recommends keeping schools open on that day, as long as “conditions” are put in place to ensure the safety of students and staff.
In particular, it will be necessary to “avoid holding outdoor activities […] from 2:11 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.,” we indicate in the documents obtained Monday by The Canadian Press.
Schools will also have to provide “an offer of childcare or supervision services to students” during the entire period of the eclipse, i.e. until 4:45 p.m.
This could lead, for example, to changes to the school transportation schedule, according to the ministry.
However, the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, specified Monday morning on the social network that “the directive transmitted should have specified that supervised and safe outdoor activities are encouraged”.
In said directive, the ministry also advised “to prevent a minor student from leaving school during the eclipse, unless accompanied by a parent or duly authorized adult”.
“If the conditions for maintaining regular activities cannot be ensured,” schools can choose to move an educational day already planned in the school calendar to April 8, it was written.
Finally closed?
These instructions, seen as constraints, have pushed several schools to review their decision to remain open all day, the daily reported on Monday. The Press.
After this publication, Minister Drainville “invited schools which had planned activities for April 8 to maintain them”.
The management of this event is also denounced by the astronomer Pierre Chastenay and the general director of the Association for the Teaching of Science and Technology in Quebec, Camille Turcotte.
Quebec “seems to oscillate between delay and excessive caution, compromising the golden opportunity to make it a true science festival,” they lamented in an open letter sent to the Montreal Journal.
A solar eclipse is a very rare astronomical phenomenon during which the Moon is placed between the Earth and the Sun and completely hides the latter for a short period.
Without adequate protection measures, observing a solar eclipse can have harmful effects on health, including loss of vision.