QUEBEC – Premier Jean Charest proposed a six-point plan Friday to settle Quebec’s 11-week students’ strike.
• The plan would maintain the proposed $1,625 tuition hike, but would phase it in over seven years, rather than five, as was planned.
• The government would add $39 million in bursaries and would improve the student loans program.
• To repay student loans, graduates would repay proportionate to their income.
• Creation of a council to ensure better management of Quebec’s universities.
• Periodic evaluations on the impact of the higher fees on access to university education.
Get breaking National news
• At the end of the seven-year phase-in, tuition fees would be indexed to the cost of living.
“It is a reasonable response,” said Charest, calling on striking students to end their “boycott” of classes.
Education Minister Line Beauchamp said the hikes would cost 50 cents a day, appealing to student leaders to study the offer and submit it to their members.
In a tweet, the CLASSE, Coalition large de l’Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante, which represents almost half the 180,000 students on strike, noted that Charest’s new proposal of seven $254 tuition increases comes to $1,778, $163 more than the government’s initial proposal.
Martine Desjardins, president of the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec, said the proposals for improvements in student aid are interesting, but the government’s offer ignored the main demand of the strikers: a tuition freeze.
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.