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The number of students absent because of COVID-19 is dropping, Quebec says

There are 118 classes being taught remotely, up from 90 classes three days earlier. Two schools remain closed or partially closed.

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Two weeks after Quebec students returned to classes following the Christmas break, 47,702 of them remained at home last Friday for COVID-19-related reasons.

Three days earlier, on Jan. 25, 49,852 students were absent for the same reasons, according to statistics compiled by the education department.

Of the 47,702 absences tallied last Friday, 31,809 were in primary schools, 14,541 in secondary schools and 1,352 in adult education centres. The numbers represent about 3.48 per cent of student population.

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Of the 47,702 missing students, just under half (20,433) tested positive for COVID-19 after taking a rapid test. The rest (27,269) isolated because they may have a family member infected with the novel coronavirus.

About 93 per cent of school boards and francophone school service centres reported their data to the Education Ministry, while 88 per cent of private schools participated.

The numbers show that 2,362 teachers — or 1.74 per cent of all teachers in the province — were absent Friday because of COVID-19. Three days earlier, 2,080 teachers (1.53 per cent) were absent.

There were 118 classes being taught remotely, up from 90 classes three days earlier. Two schools remain closed or partially closed.

The president of the Quebec Provincial Association of Teachers, which represents 8,000 teachers in English public schools, said she had expected more teachers would be absent once classes resumed.

“It’s nice to see that right now it doesn’t seem to be out of control, but we need to keep our eyes on this,” said Heidi Yetman.

The union sent out a survey to its members last week and 93 per cent of those who responded said they were teaching in person, she added.

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The survey revealed that almost half of teachers don’t feel safe in school. The low uptake in vaccination among primary school children and the government’s failure to provide teachers with N95 masks is increasing stress among teachers, she said.

Yetman said she hasn’t heard of any cases where parents have been called in to monitor students because a replacement teacher was unavailable.

The education department says it will post the numbers twice a week on a government website so public health officials and parents can observe trends.

The numbers may not give a full picture because some parents may report their child is absent without giving a reason.

Last Friday, Quebec had 105,146 students absent for various reasons. That represents about 7.67 per cent of all schoolchildren in the province.

Under new guidelines released by Education Minister Jean-François Roberge, students will not be kept home if a fellow student has COVID-19. For a class to close, 60 per cent of students would have to test positive.

Since students returned to in-person learning two weeks ago, public health departments are no longer tracking COVID-19 cases in schools or informing parents about close contacts.

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Therefore, several school boards and school service centres are taking it upon themselves to inform parents about the number of cases in their child’s class. In most cases, numbers are posted on online school portals.

kwilton@postmedia.com

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