Published January 31, 2024

CARL HAGER
LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE

QUEBEC – On January 9, following an agreement in principle with striking teachers, Quebec’s Education Minister, Bernard Drainville, announced a $300 million academic catch-up plan to help students who’ve fallen behind. How much money each school board receives depends on the resources each school in its jurisdiction has requested. For the Western Quebec School Board, it boils down to about $1 million.

The support measures, based on recommendations from school staff following an assessment of student needs at the beginning of January, began January 29. Parents were informed of supports proposed for their child during the week of January 22.

The Minister’s plan includes: tutoring during and outside school hours; specialized help outside school hours for students needing special instruction; free summer classes for Secondary 4 (math and science) and 5 (history and French) students; support for organizations involved in education (dropout centres, literacy); and schools will be open during spring break to pursue catch-up activities.

The Minister said this extra work is voluntary and teachers will be remunerated. He called on retired teachers, student teachers and professional staff to assist in this major catch-up plan.

In addition to these initiatives, a new calendar will be established for ministerial exams, with up to a week delay to allow more teaching time because of the compressed exam schedule. There will be no exams after June 24.

In terms of the weighting of ministerial exams, Secondary 1 and 2 exams will be worth 10% of the final mark (instead of 20%) and Secondary 4 and 5 exams will count for 20% of the final result (instead of 50%).

The second report card period may be delayed until the end of March, as determined by each school board.

Katherine Korakakis, president of the English Parents Committee Association (EPCA), said she’s pleased with the initiative; “If done correctly, this will help children succeed. We’ll need everyone on board, including parents.”

Korakakis said this kind of initiative should’ve been implemented after COVID when many days of instruction were lost. Students in level 4 and 5 writing ministry exams endured two major impacts on their learning (COVID and striking), so she’s optimistic weighting formula changes will help them immensely.

Korakakis is hopeful school boards will find the specialized help for those who need it. “School boards with rural populations may have difficulty enacting some of these tutoring measures because of problems with bus transportation for after school activities,” she said.

According to George Singfield, director of the Western Quebec School Board, the Ministry recognized schools need extra support by providing meaningful assistance.

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