Quebec Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville (Archive photo)
Érik Chouinard (View profile)Érik Chouinard
Voice synthesis, based on artificial intelligence, makes it possible to generate a spoken text from a written text.
The Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, repeated Monday that he encourages schools to take advantage of the eclipse to hold educational observation activities.
Bernard Drainville had to clarify his preferences again after his ministry sent an email asking to avoid holding outdoor activities during the phenomenon of the 8 next April.
La Pressereported Monday morning that the publication of these ministry directives had aroused fears among certain schools which had organized outdoor activities for the observation of the solar eclipse. According to the daily, schools had even decided to cancel their activities.
Later in the morning, Bernard Drainville had already corrected the situation on platform X. The directive transmitted should have specified that supervised and safe outdoor activities are encouraged. We will send an email to the network clarifying the situation. I invite schools that had planned activities for April 8 to maintain them, he wrote.
Open in full screen mode
The Minister of Education and responsible for the Chaudière-Appalaches region, Bernard Drainville, was the guest on Monday noon for political meetings of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Greater Lévis.
On the sidelines of a speech to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Greater Lévis, the minister was questioned again on the subject. We made a clarification this morning because I wasn't satisfied with the way it came out, he replies.
He did part of a certain incomprehension of the directive, having himself intended to participate in an eclipse observation activity in a school. I was like: well let’s see. An outdoor activity with an approved pair of glasses makes a lot of sense, he says.
Many school service centers (CSS) prefer to remain closed on April 8, despite the direction given by the Quebec Ministry of Education. The CSS preferring to close raise, among other things, concerns about the challenges of providing safe supervision for students while observing the phenomenon.
Open in full screen mode
How can you be sure that solar eclipse glasses found online are really safe? They must comply with the international standard ISO 12312-2. (File photo)
At the last figure I saw, about half of the school service centers will remain open, says Bernard Drainville. I trust the school service centers, they feel the pressure and then I know that there are service centers which have tried to organize activities and finally at the level of logistics and school transport , it was just too difficult.
LoadingTrump's criminal trial in New York begins April 15
Trump's New York criminal trial to begin April 15
ELSE ON NEWS: Trump's New York criminal trial to begin April 15LoadingTrump's New York criminal trial begins April 15
Trump's criminal trial in New York to begin April 15
ELSE ON NEWS: Trump's criminal trial in New York to begin April 15
In the greater Quebec region, only schools in the Beauce-Etchemin School Service Center remain open. They are also the only ones who are on the path of the total phase of the solar eclipse.
The minister took advantage of his appearance in front of the community of Lévis business to give a tantalizing taste of upcoming announcements in the region, of which they could not reveal too many details.
For the Davie construction site, he says that he has good reason to think that we could have good news soon.
Open in full screen mode
The Davie shipyard in winter (Archive photo)
To ensure a supply of qualified labor in the sector, while several contracts are promised to the shipyard, Bernard Drainville also announces the intention to create a professional training program in shipbuilding that will be developed in collaboration with the Navigators School Service Center.
The topic of the third link was also part of the discussions during the Chamber of Commerce event. While insisting on the fact that we had to wait for the conclusions of the analysis by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Mr. Drainville reiterated that, according to him, the need for a new road link was very present.
Bernard Drainville also promises announcements on housing in the region.
Sébastien Morissette, a businessman from Sainte-Claire in the MRC of Bellechasse, took the opportunity to question the minister on the fact that Saint-Anselme was chosen to the detriment of Sainte-Claire for the expansion from his school.
Bernard Drainville, well aware of the matter, responded that he did not have the capacity to prioritize one project over another and that choices were made at another level. He still encourages citizens and the mayor not to give up and to continue their fight.
We are trying to find a way to so that projects like yours are well evaluated, so that in particular the two expansion projects are evaluated as a single project. We are trying to create a new category of school projects based on your reality. Know that you are heard, he said, refraining from revealing more details.
