2,562 students were deprived of school this winter because of behavior deemed too disturbing or dangerous in class, a meteoric rise compared to previous years.
In the winter of 2021, a first report from the Ministry of Education indicated that there were 1,481 young people in preschool, elementary and secondary school in a situation of a break in service, despite compulsory schooling until the age of 16. This figure stood at 1379 in the winter of 2022.
These students with, for example, an autism spectrum disorder or serious behavioral problems are sent home with educational or psychosocial support for a few hours a week, in the best of cases. Parents, taken by surprise, are forced to take their children home and some are forced to quit their jobs.
The new data for 2023 was unveiled on Tuesday by the deputy for Saint-Laurent, Marwah Rizqy, during the study of budgetary appropriations. 63 school service centers and six private establishments took part in the data collection carried out from February 2 to March 3. “It disturbs me enormously, launched the deputy. I cannot explain to myself how it is that not only have we not reviewed and corrected the situation, but worse, that it has increased”.
In response, Minister of Education Bernard Drainville indicated that he was working with the Ministry of Health “to try to find a solution to allow these children to obtain some form of schooling”, but that “it is not always obvious “. “These are children who have very great needs,” he said, adding in the same breath that 558 new special classes were added to the public network between 2019 and 2022.
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