(Quebec) A PQ government would prohibit all publicly funded schools, public or private, from selecting students into certain programs based on grades or behavior.
Posted at 12:06 am.
Patrice Bergeron The Canadian Press
This proposal is part of a detailed series of education-related resolutions obtained by The Canadian Press that will be debated at the Parti Québécois (PQ) National Council in Saint-Hyacinthe this weekend.
This meeting will feature workshops on equal opportunities, teacher empowerment, and preschool development and support for youth.
The PQ even took the opportunity to highlight its option in its proposals, quoting former minister Jacques-Yvan Morin: “Education is the key to sovereignty.”
Private schools
Furthermore, the PQ, which had already advocated an end to subsidies for private schools, is this time qualifying its position by proposing to “nationalize” them.
So if he takes power in 2026, he would offer all subsidized private schools to become 100% funded and then go “under contract,” or remain unsubsidized and gradually lose their funding – a bit like CHSLDs whether approved or not.
The current model of subsidized private schools “exacerbates inequalities, divides our society and contradicts the Parti Québécois’ core values of fairness and equal opportunity,” it reads.
In addition, a PQ government would commit to ensuring that all state-funded schools offer a choice of specific projects. On the other hand, we could no longer exclude students based on their academic performance or behavior.
With this package of measures, the PQ wants to ensure equal opportunities and put an end to the so-called “three-speed school”: a school that reproduces inequalities, in which “students receive a differentiated education according to their social background or their academic achievements,” one can read .
By three-tier school we mean either a public school with a regular program, a selective public school with special programs, or even a private school.
In a May 2023 bulletin, the Quebec Observatory of Inequalities stated: “If families do not think about their child’s choice of school and program as they transition from primary to secondary school, they risk experiencing difficulties in access .” and success in post-secondary education. »
The Supreme Council of Education concluded in a report that Quebec’s schools are the most unequal in the country.
Even the UN is now calling on Canada to “inform it of the measures taken to ensure students have equal access to education within Quebec’s three-tier school system.”
However, Education Minister Bernard Drainville has already decided that he has no intention of putting an end to three-tier schools.
Revalue the profession
In order to enhance the teaching profession, the PQ proposes in particular an improvement in working conditions by reducing the student-teacher ratio, but also the establishment of an independent committee that is intended to remedy the teacher shortage by suggesting measures.
Finally, in the workshop on preschool development and youth support, the PQ wants, among other things, to improve the identification of mental health problems and their treatment.
In addition to the long-held ban on personal electronic devices in the classroom, the party proposes to better analyze knowledge about the use of screens in schools and to issue ministerial guidelines on the subject to better equip young people and families.
The PQ is currently motivated by the polls and its recent victory against the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) in the Jean-Talon supplementary election.
This week the party presented the financial report for a sovereign Quebec, which was widely discussed in the news.