An essential service in education, this is the subject of this text written in the middle of a teachers’ strike, on the eve of the New Year’s celebrations. It is a question of children’s rights – article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, states that “States Parties recognize the right of the child to education and, in particular, with a view to ensuring the exercise of this right progressively and on the basis of equality of opportunity” — of human dignity as well as social equity. This should necessarily be a question of fundamental value for a society which is searching for itself and which has already lost some of its fundamental benchmarks.
Essential health and social services in Quebec are defined as “those whose interruption could endanger public health and safety [de l’enfant ?] and they must be maintained by the parties.”
Essential services in the education of children and young people are not clearly defined elsewhere. According to the Administrative Labor Tribunal, “in the education sector, there is no obligation to maintain essential services in the event of a strike and the same is true for school transport companies”.
However, we are well aware of the effects of a breakdown in educational services for children, and particularly for children with special problems, such as developmental disorders, learning disabilities and psycho-emotional difficulties of different kinds.
The delays only get worse, the problems become more complex and the anxiety becomes chronic and toxic.
We experienced it during a pandemic and a short time later, we still experienced it during a strike, as a reminder of the carelessness of decision-makers. Delays are accumulating at several levels, academic difficulties are becoming more complex, dropouts are increasing, vulnerabilities are increasing and care and rehabilitation services continue to become poorer and lacking.
I would like to quote an opinion from the Association of Pediatricians in January 2022 according to which it is now essential to consider continuous school attendance as well as all of its attributes as an essential service and a fundamental value which builds the public good.
Two years later, we are still healing the wounds caused by not attending school during a pandemic and looking for ways to meet the needs of children while respecting their rights. We find ourselves again at the same point with children who are losers and unmotivated.
The teachers’ strike, well justified elsewhere, should serve to open our eyes to what is happening in our backyard in relation to the shortcomings and suffering of children. A large number of them find themselves in total uncertainty about their future, in the loss of essential points of reference for their well-being and in a sort of insecurity that is very unproductive.
Some have told me how sad they are at no longer seeing their teachers, perhaps even until after the holidays, others are already thinking that their year will have to be restarted and some are thinking of dropping out due to lack of motivation and out of spite. The traces left by this kind of abandonment stress can be very damaging in the moment, but also in the longer term. We don’t want a wasted life for our children. School as an essential service, let’s think about it in the future.