The burden of the ministry exams still weighs heavily

Meeting with Marwa Rizqy

AQED had the opportunity to meet with Marwa Rizqy, MP for St-Laurent and Official Opposition critic for education. She is supportive of our cause. Ms. Rizqy agreed to ask questions on our behalf during the May 4 budget review. Mr. Roberge’s answers are still awaited. He preferred to repeat that the obligation to write the ministerial exams promotes graduation while in fact it is quite the opposite! See for yourself (in French)!

Direction de l’enseignement à la maison

The DEM has confirmed that the results of the elementary and secondary 2 ministry exams will not serve any purpose.. In order not to distort the message, here is a translation of their exact words:

No results are sent to the Ministry for the elementary and secondary 2 ministerial exams, neither for students in schools nor for homeschooled children. If the Ministry requests a sample of completed tests for research and analysis purposes, it ensures that the copies received are anonymized.

As for the ministerial exams in the context of certification of studies (Secondary 4 and 5), most of these exams are corrected directly by the Direction de la sanction des études (DSÉ). The results are added to the student’s or child’s file and a record of the printouts is mailed to the student or child. The only persons who have access to these completed exams must have a valid reason and be pre-authorized by the DSÉ. In no way is the DSÉ authorized to share with the DEM either the exam attendance list or the score for homeschooled children. Ministry exams results are not used to validate a child’s attendance at a test session.

What more can be said?

Testimonials

AQED is looking for testimonials from homeschooling families about the prejudices they have experienced as a result of the requirement to submit their children to ministerial exams. We have already received a few:

• A family, with a parent who is immunocompromised, must be very careful. The various people with whom the child will be in contact when they participate in preparatory activities and take the exams, will put that parent at risk. Not to mention the weight that this risk puts on that child’s shoulders.
• A parent refuses to allow her daughter to take the exams at the facility where her daughter was physically assaulted. She was pulled out of school because of this and now she is being forced to go back anyway! 
• A young person has a severe learning disability and it takes double the time to complete exams. This is the main reason he was pulled out of school. He had to return to class an hour before everyone else to start an exam and stay through lunch to complete it. Imagine almost a full day of taking an exam, not being able to go out for lunch and in the end it counts for nothing!

Will your family be  negatively affected by ministerial exams? Please share your story with us at [email protected]. We will keep your anonymity, unless you indicate that you are comfortable testifying openly. Don’t forget to send your complaint to the Ombudsman! 

Next steps

What is the next mission? We are asking you to be ambassadors of AQED’s actions to your friends and family and through social networks. Encourage parent educators, and all those who support our mission, to become AQED members. The louder our voice, the more power we have to influence. 

We will need to convince the public of the merits of what we are doing. Talk to others about why ministry exams are not a good way to assess our children. Let people know about the injustices and inequalities that you and your children face. The more people who support us, the better chance we have of getting the government to back down.

Thank you!