Key takeaways:
- Unions state classrooms aren’t yet secure, blame Quebec government for ‘wilful blindness.’
- Unions depicting Quebec teachers are asking the government to supply N95 masks for the team and mechanical ventilation systems per classroom, to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Teachers demand N95 masks and improved ventilation in classrooms:
Quebec teachers unions are criticising the government’s judgment to reopen elementary and high schools without supplying teachers with N95 masks and equipping all classrooms with mechanical ventilation systems.
The unions’ response follows the region’s statement that in-person classes would restart Monday, despite admissions that reopening could direct to a “very large number” of teacher absences. Source – cbc.ca
While online education is “far from ideal” for families and students, the Quebec Provincial Association of Teachers stated in a statement it was “astonished” that the government was sending students back to class without additional safety efforts. Source – cbc.ca
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The Quebec government stated in a technical briefing Friday that CO2 readers will be arriving in Quebec classrooms this forthcoming week, to better set the ventilation requirements in Quebec schools.
Schools with raised levels of CO2 in their classrooms will be able to ask for an air exchanger from the government. Officials stated no appeal would be rejected. But teachers unions stated the government has been hauling its feet.
The Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE), which depicts members of nine teachers’ unions, alerted in a statement of classrooms becoming “incubators” for COVID-19 transmission, and charged the Legault government of “willful blindness.” Source – cbc.ca
