A video inviting secondary school students to strike this Friday causes waves. Aiming to denounce the ban on cell phones at school, it has accumulated hundreds of thousands of views since its publication on Tuesday.
Posted at 7:30 p.m.
Updated at 7:38 p.m.
The video, broadcast on Tiktok by an account named School_QC, shows a teenager with blond hair that is aimed at the camera in a decided tone. “young people, we go on strike!” He says.
“From next year, the Quebec government wants to force us to call our teachers, sir, madam, and make school phones illegal. I don’t know what you think, but I find it stupid, “added the teenager, before inviting students not to go to their lessons this Friday, in protest against the new directive.
The video had been viewed more than 540,000 times and had collected more than 43,000 mentions I like on Wednesday evening, only one day after its publication.
Many comments under the publication welcome the initiative, but most of them oppose it. “Your reaction is exactly the reason for all these measures,” said a user named Shamaw Boudidi. “You abuse seriousness, it’s so much better for us,” writes another user, named Alycia.
Several secondary schools notified the parents of the email initiative on Wednesday. The management of Lucille Teasdale secondary school in Blainville recalled that exams, including ministerial tests, are scheduled for the coming weeks. “Any absence or disruption could lead to serious consequences for the students concerned,” read the message, that The press consulted.
On the side of the Joseph-François Perreault school, it is said that “the Code of Life will be applied, as usual, for non-motivated absences”, in an email consulted by The press.
“Little or not” impact
Although the idea of a strike is not unanimous, Quebec secondary schools are preparing to come from absences this Friday, according to Nicolas Prévost, president of the Quebec Federation of Directions of Education Establishment (FQDE). “It is not ideal to miss a school day, but it is completely legitimate that students are expressed,” he adds.
A strike would have “little or no impact” on the implementation of the plan presented last Thursday by the Minister of Education of Quebec, Bernard Drainville, according to Nicolas Prévost. “Rather, it would be necessary that the pupils are addressed at the political level, to the deputies of their constituencies,” he adds.
Some students unhappy with new directives prefer to express their opposition by other means. This is the case of Thomas Pearson, 16, who launched a petition against the prohibition of cellulars which collects more than 10,000 signatures after less than a week online, on the Change.org site.
The adolescent, who ends his fourth year of secondary school at the Pierre-Dupuy school in Montreal, assures that he will not participate in the strike, in particular because of the ministerial tests which are fast approaching. “I go to secondary 5 next year, it’s not time to revolt me,” said the young man.
Cellulaires will be prohibited in the field of all Quebec schools from the next fall school year, under the plan of Bernard Drainville, who also intends to force students to address adults of school staff by using the “Sir, Madame”, as well as using the vouvoyer.
