A Montreal school board’s decision to schedule a pedagogical day to coincide with a massive planned anti-climate change march isn’t going unnoticed in Quebec City.
The Commission Scolaire de Montreal’s 114,000 students will not have classes on Sept. 27, the day hundreds of thousands of people are expected to take to Montreal’s streets to call for more action to combat climate change. The marchers will be joined by Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teen and activist who has become an international face to the movement.
On Wednesday Premier Francois Legault criticized the CSDM’s decision, saying he feels sorry for parents “who will have to find an alternative for their children that day because classes will be cancelled.”
He said teachers at the board will have to work that day, saying it’s ped days are not days off.
Education Minister Jean-Francois Roberge echoed Legault, saying Sept. 27 will be “a day of preparation, correction and training” for teachers.
He added he would not have made the same decision as the board.
“The solution to environmental problems are in school, not in the street,” he said.
The Lester B. Pearson School Board also has a pedagogical day scheduled for Sept. 27. The English Montreal School Board has announced that while classes will not be cancelled during the march, parents will be allowed to pull their children from school to attend the rally.
