Schools are suffocating: 67 modular classes urgently requested from Premières-Seigneuries

Having not received the green light from Quebec for the construction of new schools, the Premières-Seigneuries School Service Center is urgently calling for the installation of 67 modular classes starting next year in order to be able to welcome all students in its primary and secondary schools, particularly in the Beauport and Charlesbourg sectors.

This addition will triple the number of temporary premises in its establishments, since there are currently 33.

The request, which was approved by the board of directors of the School Service Center on Tuesday evening, is based on projections which take into account in particular the arrival of students from immigrant backgrounds during the year, as This is now more and more the case, explains Marie-Claude Asselin, general director of the Premières-Seigneuries School Service Center.

These forecasts were endorsed by the Ministry of Education. “We need space to be able to accommodate all the students,” she says in an interview with Newspaper.

Photo DAPHNÉE DION-VIENS

This is a “non-PQI” request, which means that it takes place outside the framework provided for in the Quebec Infrastructure Plan, which makes it possible to finance medium-term projects.

“It’s an immediate need, for the start of the school year next August,” explains M.^me Asselin.

Modular classes will be added in four primary schools and two secondary schools, mainly located in Beauport and Charlesbourg (see details below). Around fifteen additional premises are notably requested for the brand new Phare secondary school, located on the site of the former Quebec zoological garden, which has just opened its doors at the start of the school year, just a few weeks ago .

Several refusals

These premises, which now have little to do with what have long been called “trailers”, represent a “temporary solution” to the lack of space when funding from Quebec for the addition of space is waiting.

Last year, the Premières-Seigneuries School Service Center requested from the Ministry of Education the construction of a new secondary school in Beauport and three new primary schools (two in Beauport and one in Boischatel), which all were refused.

The addition of modular classes had also been requested in two primary schools, but only one request for the installation of temporary premises had obtained the green light from Quebec.

In the Quebec region, no request for school expansion or construction has been accepted over the past year by the Ministry of Education, despite growing needs.

For its part, the Premières-Seigneuries School Service Center will once again submit its applications for new construction this fall, while the number of students has been constantly increasing for several years.

The Journal reported at the start of the school year that Quebec schools are welcoming approximately 4,000 more students this year compared to last year, mainly due to the arrival of immigrant families.

For his part, the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, affirmed Thursday that “in certain cases, we will have to accept that there are more modulars” while repeating that Quebec had “invested more than ever” in the construction of new schools in recent years.

“We are not providing because the number of students to be educated is increasing faster than our capacity to accommodate them,” he said. This is why we have to turn to modular systems in certain cases.”

-With Nicolas Lachance