Quebec François Legault announced Friday that students will be allowed to participate in school sports and art activities between class groups by Sept. 14 if everything goes well over the next two weeks.
This comes after Education Minister Jean-François Roberge’s Thursday announcement that all activities will be restricted to class bubbles drew controversy across the province, sparking an online petition that quickly garnered thousands of signatures.
Legault said on Friday the government made the decision in collaboration with public health to prevent widespread COVID-19 outbreaks in schools.
The aim has always been to relax the restriction in time, once authorities see how things are going.
The situation will be monitored and re-evaluated over the coming two weeks, the premier explained, but if everybody is following the rules and there are no serious outbreaks, then it will be possible to restart all the activities between classes.
Legault acknowledged that there was clearly disappointment and frustration after Thursday’s announcement, especially because kids are allowed to play sports outside of school.
“We have to be careful. Parents are scared about this situation,” he said on Friday. ‘What we decided for a first step is to keep the children in schools within one classroom including for sports and arts.”
