In this week for public schools, the Minister of Education Bernard Drainville admitted that a lot of work remains to be done, but that it is not by hitting private schools that things will improve.
“We have very big challenges in education, but we also have very good reasons to celebrate education,” indicated the Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, during a press briefing Monday morning in Montreal.
Mr. Drainville also took the opportunity to ensure that he will not deviate from his education priorities, including that of building and renovating schools in Quebec.
Asked about the success of private schools, the minister believes that there is no reason to put the two types of establishments in competition.
“The vast majority, almost 90% of students go to public school, so to think that by eliminating 10%, we would solve the problems of the remaining 90%, I do not adhere to this analysis grid” , he stressed.
“The dropout rate of students who go to private schools is 10% lower than students who go to public schools. […] I don’t know what the magic formula that the private school has found is, so it’s really a problem,” reacted Ruba Ghazel, spokesperson for Québec solidaire en education.
“For the FAE it is clear, public funding of private schools at the moment is harming us,” said Mélanie Hubert, president of the Autonomous Education Federation.
A large envelope in French
Following this event, Minister Drainville took the opportunity to announce an investment of $54 million to enable the creation of the new Allofrançais platform.
“I think we have to be very, very, very impatient to get things back on track,” explained the Minister of Education.
Created by Alloprof, this brand new site will offer more content to help students learn French.
“We are going to reinvent the way we support our students in Quebec,” underlined the co-founder of Alloprof, Sandrine Faust, during a press briefing.
From learning sheets to educational games, young people will be able to obtain personalized courses thanks to artificial intelligence. In addition, the envelope will also be used to hire 25 additional teachers who will provide personalized tutoring sessions to students in need.
“To what extent this will allow us to improve our results in French, it is too early to say. But if I did not have confidence that it would make a difference, I would not be here today,” concluded Bernard Drainville.
