It is not a real catch-up plan that Minister Bernard Drainville presented yesterday. At best, the plan aims to save the furniture. It is, above all, an admission that recovery is not possible for several thousand children who lived through the five-week FAE strike.
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Through his statements we understood that the minister does not even have the power to enforce a real restoration of the lost days. In order to influence spring break, extend the school year or extend school hours, the government would have to get union approval.
Do you think he would like to start a new trial? In Quebec, the unions are leading, the ministers are fighting.
Not a day taken back
It's a collective shame. Children in FAE schools have missed five weeks of classes and not a single day will resume. We go on spring break at the beginning of March. The height of ridiculousness, we don't even miss the educational days!
The Minister therefore does not have the authority to offer children the benefits to which they should be entitled: 180 days of school that give them a chance to succeed. In fact, the minister has two powers: to reduce demand and to spend money.
This explains the plan presented on Tuesday. We are reducing the exam requirements and are therefore removing a little from the program. In short, we are compromising on the quality of education for children. We did this during a pandemic as we believed it was a force majeure event. There we do it again because of a work dispute. Imagine the cumulative effect on the many children who have experienced both.
A lot of money
The minister's greatest power: putting money on the table. He goes full throttle: 300 million. It is up to local authorities to use the funds to provide lifelines to the students furthest behind. The offering may vary greatly from region to region, but the financial outlay is enormous.
The plan represents a commendable effort by a minister with limited damage control powers. One fact remains: for many children, this is a wasted school year.
They are the victims of the strike. Some will pay a price for years. 24 missed days in a school calendar that allows for 180 days is more than 13%. And I ignore the fact that after an absence of seven weeks, this week has to be used to work, a bit like after the summer holidays.
The FAE will claim that this strike was necessary to save public education in Quebec. I reserve judgment and wait to see how big the actual improvements will be. But even in this optimistic scenario, we must remember these children who will continue to pay the price of a union strategy for a long time to come.
Once the dust settles, I hope someone has the courage to open the debate for the future: Should we define the right to strike in the school world? The right to strike is sacred. The right to education was violated.