Quebec’s CEGEP federation says semester could be extended

MONTREAL – If striking students vote to return to class, the head of Quebec’s CEGEP federation says it will be possible to complete the winter semester by June 30.

But most students at colleges affected by the strike can expect longer days and, for some, classes on Saturday, said Jean Beauchesne, chief executive of the federation that represents Quebec’s 48 public colleges.

Of course, students must first give their verdict on the tentative deal in the tuition dispute reached between the Quebec government and student groups.

The federation is “relatively confident” that the student assemblies will opt to return to class quickly, said Beauchesne who took part in the marathon negotiation session on the weekend.

“It could vary from one place to another. We hope it’s 100 per cent,” he said.

Seventeen CEGEPS in Quebec are still affected by the strike, representing about 75,000 students. For a few CEGEPs, the boycott of classes is now in its ninth week.

If students approve the deal, Beauchesne said he believes it’s technically possible for all the affected CEGEPs to resume classes this week.

There are rules to respect if they want semesters to be appropriate teaching-wise, Beauchesne said. “So we can’t ask a student to be at a CEGEP for 15 hours,” he said. They’ll arrange it so that while there will be a compressed schedule, a student can do their work at the same time, Beauchesne said.

The academic fallout remains to be seen. Beauchesne expects some students who have started working full time won’t go back to class this semester.

If a student doesn’t return, colleges will call him or her and, where possible, meet with them to ensure they can finish the semester, he said.

If a student doesn’t come back, at the moment they’d be facing failure because the deadline to drop courses has passed. Beauchesne said he wants to speak about the problem soon with a senior education department official.

Léo Bureau-Blouin, head of the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec, said they are worried there will be significant impacts on school success. That’s why the group will work hard so that students are affected as little as possible, Bureau-Blouin said.

The CEGEP federation will also have to negotiate with its teachers, said Beauchesne, who noted that Saturdays and other arrangements are involved in finishing the semester. It has already started talking to them, he added.

There’s a strong chance they’ll have to pay teachers for working on Saturday, said Beauchesne, who cited it as an example of extra costs facing CEGEPs. Colleges will keep track of those costs separately and will see what they’ll do with them afterward. Ideally, the Education Department should assume those costs, he said.

Everyone hopes that they can complete the semester by June 30 because the other scenarios are disastrous ones that would cause huge problems, said Jean Trudelle, head of the Fédération nationale des enseignantes et enseignants du Québec, which has backed students in the dispute. It would be unmanageable if there were tens of thousands of extra students at CEGEPs in September, Trudelle said.

“That’s why everyone will do their best to find solutions,” said Trudelle. He also noted that its unions will have to sit down with their local CEGEP administrations to reach an agreement about teachers’ availability.

The first vote by members of the Fédération étudiante collégiale du Québec on the tentative deal will be Monday at CEGEP de St. Hyacinthe. The group should have the results by late-afternoon, Bureau-Blouin said.