CEGEPs, universities could have 60 per cent of students learning in-person in fall: cabinet minister

Quebec promises help for students Citing the effect the pandemic has had on mental health, the Quebec government is promising help for returning CEGEP and university students.

MONTREAL — While schools won't return to normal before 2022, Quebec Minister for Higher Education Danielle McCann said there may be more students on CEGEP and university campuses in September.

McCann said she wanted the return of “as many as possible” students in the fall semester, though those that do return will need to wear masks. Physical distancing will be reduced to one meter instead of the current metre-and-a-half.

McCann said those steps will allow campuses to increase their capacity, estimated that the fall could see schools at “close to 60 per cent” of their normal capacity.

The minister said she was aware of the great difficulties students faced over the past year, as students turned to online learning and were deprived of “camaraderie” during a pivotal part of their development.

To that end, McCann said the government has improved access to psychological services, saying that 15,000 students have received psychotherapy services since the fall. Almost 6,000 of those have received a mental health assessment.

In total, students received nearly 69,000 hours of those services, 91 per cent of which were provided by professional resources at colleges and universities.

In February, McCann announced that students could return to campuses once a week but acknowledged that the results had come up short. While more than 80 per cent of institutions offered their students to each come back to class in person once a week, many expressed reluctance to do so.

In particular, students in Greater Montreal said they were worried about taking public transit.

Despite McCann's optimism, political opponents expressed skepticism. Quebec solidaire co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois said more in-person learning won't work miracles.

“There are young people who have been broken in two,” he said. “Injuries like these don't heal when you go back to school. Mental health issues are going to take years to mend.”

McCann said that despite no return to normal for another year, she encourages students to hold on.

“You're almost at the finish line. You'll see, in the fall, it's going to get a lot better.”

Also on Tuesday, McCann announced the imminent roll-out of the Student Mental Health Action Plan for higher education.

The plan will be deployed at the start of the 2021 school year and will make it possible to hire more mental health resources.

“The pandemic has had several effects, including isolating students, causing many health problems,” she said. “Our vision for the well-being of students is long-term.”