The Minister of Education and Higher Education, Jean-François Roberge, and the Minister of Families, Mathieu Lacombe provided details regarding the reopening of primary schools and daycare services.
In a press briefing at the end of the afternoon, Monday, Ministers Roberge and Lacombe confirmed what Premier Legault had announced earlier: reopening of primary schools and daycare services on May 11th outside of Montreal and on May 19th in Greater Montreal.
"This is a great day for education because, finally, we are going to announce a return to class. A return to class that will be gradual, careful and voluntary. And also, an improvement in the services that will be offered to students who will not return to class. This return to class is necessary for educational reasons. Moreover, the Association of Pediatricians of Quebec recommended us to make this return to class for our young people of primary and preschool for questions of mental health, for questions of physical, psychological, food security and also, to continue learning, particularly for the most vulnerable students or those with learning difficulties. Students must be able to start living as normally as possible.
- Classed will be limited to a 15- student maximum.
- A two metre distance will have to be respected.
- As of May 4, all school staff will have access to educational childcare services and school childcare services.
- Staff over the age of 60 or with a specific medical condition are invited to stay at home.
- Same recommendation for students with a particular medical condition: they are requested not to return to class.
- The entire education networks will have access to FREE training on teaching from a distance.
- As of this week, by invitation, parents will be able to collect their children's educational materials and they will also be able to borrow technological tools such as tablets and computers.
- Agreement with Telus and Apple which allows the government to put 15,000 LTE-connected tablets in the hands of students who need them.
- Agreement with TELUQ which will offer free training of 20 hours on techno-pedagogy, online education, to teachers in Quebec.
