The return to winter in person went well after all, assures the Minister of Education, Jean-François Roberge, who points out that no class has been closed since last Tuesday.
The elected caquist carried out his first media update on Monday since the students returned to the school benches. Despite the specter of the Omicron variant, he presented himself “optimistically” in front of the journalists, during a virtual press briefing on the workforce in the network.
“So far, there have been very, very few – or no – service failures,” Mr. Roberge pointed out. It’s still a great success after a week. »
Since last week, 60% of students have to be in isolation for a school to close a class. The Minister of Education says he is keeping a “vigilant” eye on the ground.
“As soon as it is ready”, Quebec will also make available the absenteeism rate of students in the network. Ontario has been doing it since this morning. For the moment, 16 schools in the neighboring province have temporarily switched to distance education.
“Totally Acceptable”
Minister Roberge wishes to reassure the teachers, who in turn were able to observe the air quality in their classrooms last week: “The air quality in our schools is completely acceptable. »
“We must not think that it is catastrophic”, supported the elected representative of Chambly, according to whom the punctual snapshots of the readers of CO2 installed this winter in classrooms have no scientific value.
“It’s totally unnecessary. An isolated reading like that does not give a fair portrait, ”he hammered.
The Minister recalls that a hundred air exchangers are currently available to teachers. All you have to do is make a request to your school service centre. “Other hundreds” of devices will arrive soon, Mr. Roberge’s press secretary, Florent Tanlet, later said.
According to the ministry, no school has yet requested the installation of air exchangers in its classrooms.