There’s no way around it – students in Quebec’s elementary and high schools are heading back to the classroom this week.
This year, that will also include the expansion of a kindergarten program for four-year-olds. In June, Education Minister Sébastien Proulx announced the addition of 100 kindergarten classes for four-year-olds in disadvantaged areas. These new classes will be located largely in the Montreal and Outaouais regions.
In an interview with Le Devoir, Proulx also mentioned that this fall there would be a course in personal finance for high school students, a measure contested by the teachers’ union.
Another new measure this school year: a compulsory history course for Grade 9 students. The education ministry had planned to implement the new History of Quebec and Canada course last fall, but Proulx decided to hold off for a year.
The 2017 academic year will be the first under which the government will implement the new educational success program, which was announced in June. The goal is to increase the proportion of Quebec students under 20 who receive their first diploma (be it the high school diploma – DES, or professional diploma – DEP) to 85 per cent by 2030. The percentage is currently 74.
Proulx said that the government will spend $ 1.8 billion over five years to hire more than 7,200 new educational resources, 1,500 of which will begin this fall.
