The Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) Youth Congress is gathering in Saint-Hyacinthe, in the Montérégie region, on Saturday to propose the return of a “culture of civic-mindedness” in schools.
In particular, the young CAQ members want to make uniforms the norm in secondary schools and impose the use of the polite form of address from Grade 5 of primary school.
“All young people in Quebec have the right to education. But that right cannot be respected without respect for other students and teachers,” said Aurélie Diep, chair of the CAQ’s Commission de la relève (New Generation Commission), in a speech on Saturday morning.
She condemned the violence that takes place in schools towards other students and teachers.
“Until we solve this problem, it’s clear that some teachers will continue to leave,” said Diep, who is herself studying to become a teacher. “The schools we love is impossible without discipline, respect and good citizenship.
The young CAQistes want students guilty of violence and bullying and their parents to be required to attend training courses aimed at changing their behaviour.
“School is not a collection of individuals who do as they please. It’s a community (…) where all pupils owe respect and where everyone contributes to a climate that makes people want to learn,” said Diep.
On Saturday, the party’s youth wing will be discussing the theme “The School We Love.”
The organization has scheduled three panels on education.
Minister for Higher Education Pascale Déry spoke on Saturday morning, praising the involvement of the young people and saying she was open to their proposals.
Education Minister Bernard Drainville did likewise in a pre-recorded video.
In the afternoon, Quebec Premier François Legault will address the young CAQ supporters in a speech and then take their questions.
In her speech, Diep praised Quebec’s “three-speed” school system, which she sees as beneficial: “It annoys me a little when I hear politicians denounce three-speed schools, as if it were desirable or possible to impose the same speed on all pupils.”
In her opinion, the mix of public schools, public schools and specific programs has given rise to the school system’s “greatest successes.”
“When I see that, I say to myself that we need a school with 10, 15 or even 100 speeds,” she said, adding in passing that Drainville shares this vision.
The CAQ youth also want to allow students to complete their secondary education in four, five or six years, and are proposing to develop recreational extracurricular sports in schools.
The CAQ Youth Convention comes at the end of an eventful week for the party.
The CAQ had to deal with the resignation of super-minister Pierre Fitzgibbon a few days before the start of the new parliamentary session.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Sept. 7, 2024.