Away with selection based on grades and money: Québec Solidaire calls for free and non-discriminatory special programs for all students in the public network.
Young people in Quebec should have access to the same quality of education, declares Solidarity MP Ruba Ghazal. “Special projects these days are selective, based on numbers, on behavior, on money,” she laments in an interview. It is important that this segregation no longer exists!”
Special education projects, such as concentrations in sports, arts or international education programs (IEP), have multiplied in public schools over the years. Typically, only high-achieving students who can afford it have access. Since September, Quebec has picked up fees of up to $300 for specific programs, but the costs are often higher and the entrance exams are plentiful.
Member for Mercier disagrees with this reality. Ruba Ghazal asks the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, to put an end to “the separation between regular students and students in special projects”.
All young people should have access to specific programs free of charge, in line with solidarity, which calls for the abolition of selection based on grades or behavior.
Exception for sports studies
The cost of this measure is estimated at $65 million. The projects must be carried out in accordance with the tastes of the students and the particularities of each school. The only exception: sports study programs accredited by the Ministry of Education, “which represent only 2% of children”.
Diversity in classes promotes academic success, she emphasizes. According to the elected official, weaker students should work together with stronger youth.
“Our young people need special projects to give them a taste of learning. When we deny a young person from doing what he loves based on his grades or his financial resources, we send him a negative message and harm his academic success.
MP Ghazal recalled that the Chênes School Service Center in Drummondville made special projects accessible to all students without selection this year, after noticing a gap in the pass rate between regular and special programs of as much as 28%.
Private schools in the public domain
Currently, private schools are largely funded by the state. Over the next year, Quebec will pay more than $737 million to the private network.
Québec Solidaire wants private institutions to gradually return to the public sphere and no longer be able to charge parents.
Schools that want to remain private must do so without public money under a supportive government.