Primary and secondary students, as well as higher education students, will no longer have to present a doctor’s note to justify certain class absences starting next fall.
This is what the Quebec government announced on Friday, presenting this measure as a way to reduce the administrative burden on doctors, who have long argued that they spend too much time managing paperwork.
Thus, Quebec has asked primary and secondary schools to no longer require a doctor’s note to justify an absence of less than five days, as well as for so-called “home” exams.
However, a medical certificate will always be required for absences from the fourth and fifth secondary ministry examinations, since these are examinations required to obtain the secondary school diploma.
When it comes to longer-term absences, schools will have the flexibility to implement their own policy, so they can continue to request a doctor’s note if they wish.
A medical certificate could also be requested for absences from the primary and second secondary ministerial exams, depending on the policies of each environment, as is already the case.
“When our children are sick and they have to miss school, we never do it for fun. It is therefore good news that the requirements for medical notes are being reduced. We trust the judgment of parents and school administrators so that everything goes well,” underlined the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, in a press release.
In higher education, Quebec is also asking establishments to no longer require a medical certificate for absences of less than five days. They will always be able to do this for longer absences.
The directive sent to the school network is part of the series of measures announced by the government in recent weeks aimed at reducing the administrative burden on doctors, who say they have to spend more than 20% of their time completing paperwork.
The Minister of Health, Christian Dubé, reiterated Friday that the objective is to change the culture in the health network so that doctors can devote more time to their patients.
“I would like to thank the contribution of schools and higher education who are also reviewing their ways of doing things to reduce paperwork,” he declared in writing.
The government is scheduled to hold a press conference late this morning to further discuss this announcement.