The routine of students at Cégep Marie-Victorin has not changed much since the announcement of the gradual return to class of Quebec Minister of Higher Education Danielle McCann.
Since February 8, establishments in the red zone can offer theoretical courses in class. Students should, however, keep a distance of 1.5 meters in class, and the capacity of each class should not exceed 50%.
Dominique Vincelli first met his comrades in person on February 23, as part of a course associated with his internship.
“It was good to see people in person and we felt safe with the measures in place and the distancing,” says the first year social work student.
She will now go to class once a week for this course.
But this is still far from being the case for everyone. A second-year fashion design technician student, Élodie Galiano has a course that includes “face-to-face” activities, but that involves attending college only every two or three weeks.
Otherwise, she still receives the vast majority of distance education.
“Staring at a screen for three hours straight is a challenge. It’s really hard to concentrate, ”she says.
No big difference
“The announcement did not really make a difference,” believes Kassie Raymond, coordinator at the Student Union of Cégep Marie-Victorin. It is still mainly technical program courses that involve classroom activities, she says.
It must be said that the announcement of the Minister McCann took place on February 4, almost two weeks after the start of the winter session. At that time, Cégep Marie-Victorin had already increased attendance in class as much as possible.
More than 40% of the courses include certain on-site activities in the winter session, compared to 35% in the fall session, indicates in an email from Nathalie Baumgartner, communications officer at Cégep Marie-Victorin.
Do the students go to CEGEP once a week, as recommended by the Premier of Quebec François Legault?
Difficult to know, since the percentage of lessons “in attendance” does not say anything about the frequency.
Hard on morale
One thing is certain, the pandemic continues to weigh heavily on student morale.
“I have the impression that we are mortgaging pivotal years of my life. Despite all the efforts we can make, distance courses will never be as effective and of the same quality as distance courses, ”drops Élodie Galiano.
“We feel forgotten. We don’t realize how badly the students feel. ”- Élodie Galiano, student at Cégep Marie-Victorin.
“The mental health of students is at stake,” says Kassie Raymond bluntly. However, she mentioned that being in class is not necessarily a panacea.
“Some students would like to go back to campus, but others are very anxious about the variants. It is very shared. We really have echoes from both sides. ”
The Student Union will survey its members to better understand their situation and the real state of attendance in class.
42%
This is the proportion of courses including classroom activities at Cégep Marie-Victorin in the winter 2021 session. This proportion was 35% in the fall session.
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