Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca said Friday the proposal is part of a plan to help students offset the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on their education.
Allowing students to complete Grade 13, he says, would give them the choice to spend more time on courses required for post-secondary education and to take new courses on personal finance, civics, mental health and well-being. -be.
It will be a structured option for our children
Del Duca said in a park near a high school in Kitchener, Ont.
If swept into office, his government would work with teachers, principals, school councils and boards to develop programs for the extra year.
The program would cost $295 million.
The Liberals are committed to offering Grade 13 for a minimum of 4 years. The objective is to target students in difficulty due to the pandemic and distance learning.
Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford, who is seeking re-election in June, was asked twice Friday about the idea of bringing back an optional 13th grade, but did not respond directly.
We put money into education
he said during a trip to Bowmanville, Ontario. We are building new schools (…) and repairing them to the tune of 14 billion dollars and we are providing better education with more funding in education.
Grade 13+ since 2003
Ontario was the only province to have a fifth year of high school until it was eliminated under Progressive Conservative Premier Mike Harris.
Grade 13 was replaced in the 1980s by the Ontario Academic Credit, itself abolished in 2003.
The Liberals are also promising to hire 1,000 additional mental health professionals for students and staff and one additional special educator for each school.
We have seen over the past four years how so many of our children have been isolated, faced challenges, experienced behavioral changes
said Steven Del Duca. We need more mental health care in our schools.
the NDP criticizes Liberal record on education
They also propose hiring another 5,000 special education workers, expanding the student nutrition program offering free lunch, ending academic broadcasting, and eliminating standardized testing from school.EQAO and replace them with a new evaluation strategy.
Steven Del Duca released other elements of his education platform this week: the Liberals’ pledge includes building 200 new schools and fixing 4,500 others, hiring 10,000 more teachers and limiting class sizes to 20 students at all school levels.
The Ontario New Democratic Party criticizes the Liberal Party’s record on education when it was in power from 2003 to 2018.
Liberals won’t fix what they broke in education
say it NDP by Andrea Horwath in a press release. He cites hundreds of school closures, an increase in the number of students per class or even a freeze on salary increases for teachers.
Reference-ici.radio-canada.ca