New pre-kindergarten classes 'necessary, but not sufficient,' expert says
Education Minister Sébastien Proulx announced additional 30 classes in low-income areas
The announcement of additional funding for 30 more pre-kindergarten classes in low-income neighbourhoods is a step in the right direction, but Quebec still falls short of where it should be, according to a leading education expert.
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"My main comment is necessary but not sufficient," said Égide Royer, who teaches educational psychology at Laval University.
Earlier in the day, Education Minister Sébastien Proulx announced his government will fund a total of 100 pre-kindergarten classes beginning in September, up from 70 now.
The total cost is pegged at $10.4 million.
Au Québec, les maternelles 4 ans sont complémentaires aux services éducatifs déjà existants. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/polqc?src=hash">#polqc</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PLQ?src=hash">#PLQ</a> <a href="https://t.co/5P8NAHabQX">pic.twitter.com/5P8NAHabQX</a>
—@SebastienProulxTen of those classes will be will be created in the English-speaking school network.
The announcement comes as Premier Philippe Couillard enters the final stretch of what has been a rocky legislative session for his government.
"It shows what we meant when we said once we have room to manoeuvre, we would invest in education," said Couillard, referring to his government's promise to spend more money on education once the deficit was eliminated.
Quebec's 'really troublesome' drop-out rate
However, Royer said the government should extend pre-kindergarten to all four-year-old children, in order to combat the province's notoriously low graduation rate.
One out of three boys and one out of five girls have no diploma at the age of 20.
"We need this in Quebec right now because the situation is really troublesome," Royer said. "When you are able to intervene in pre-kindergarten, we are giving them a very strong help – increasing the chances that they will succeed in school."
In Ontario, 85 per cent of students graduate high school on time.
There's no reason why that cannot be the case in this province, said Royer.
"It's not Finland, it's not Europe. It's on the other side of the Outaouais River."
Couillard not 'education premier' yet
Last month at the Quebec Liberal Party's general council meeting, Couillard told party members he wants to be known as the "education premier."
However, Royer said he will have to do a lot more in order to achieve such a title, including establishing universal pre-kindergarten by 2020, setting up a provincial centre of excellence in education and creating a professional order of teachers.