(Quebec) The government notes that the pandemic has hurt the skills of young Quebecers in French and mathematics and chooses to inject 450 million in five years to straighten the bar.
“The negative effects of the pandemic have led to a decline in skills, primarily in youth literacy,” reads the budget unveiled on Tuesday.
Therefore, 50 million will go, starting this year, to support literacy and numeracy. This amount will practically double in 2024-2025.
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The state wants to set up a “tutoring platform”, as it promised in the last elections, or even increase the number of educational advisers who support primary and secondary teachers.
Quebec also promises to add literary works in schools and in particular Quebec books.
“Learning French is a lifelong asset for students. It represents a learning vehicle at the service of all disciplines and therefore, a springboard to graduation,” the budget states.
This is one of the key education measures in the budget tabled on Tuesday, which provides for portfolio increases of 6% in education and 5% in higher education.
The government is taking advantage of its budget to step on the accelerator in order to provide all secondary schools with “special educational projects” in sports or the arts, for example.
The CAQ government had made no secret of its intention to add at least one specific program to all secondary schools. He chose to inject 33 million this year in this direction.
New programs will therefore be available from the fall of 2023. Quebec is also increasing “financial support for parents from $200 to $300, thus reducing their annual contribution”.
“These measures will promote, among other things, the educational success of students since they will be able to choose an educational project corresponding to their fields of interest”, can we read in the budget.
The budget also provides for ambitious targets in the Early Childhood Centers (CPE) starting this year. The government promises to convert 5000 unsubsidized places into subsidized places in 2023-2024.
“This measure will allow more families to take advantage of the reduced contribution, which is currently $8.85 per day,” the budget states.
The target is ambitious: the government had managed to convert 3549 places in the last two years.
But the conversion of these places will strain public finances for the next few years. Quebec plans to inject 18.5 million for the conversion of places this year. But the costs of this recurring expense will increase and the State expects to have to spend 75.8 million in 2024-2025 to meet this commitment.