Montreal, September 9,
2009 – L.
Jacques Ménard, President of BMO
Financial Group, Quebec, and Chair of the Action Group on Student
Retention and Success in Quebec, supports the Voies de réussites (paths to success) announced today by Quebec’s Minister of
Education, Sports and Recreation.
“The departmental document incorporates the main thrusts of the
action plan contained in the Knowledge Is Power report that our Action
Group published in March,” Mr. Ménard said. The chair of
the Action Group and author of the book Beyond the Numbers, a Matter
of the Heart reiterated his commitment, shared by the members of his
Action Group, to closely monitor the implementation of the 13 success
paths, including the allocation of the budgets necessary to transform
the intentions announced today into meaningful action.
The departmental
document recognizes the enormous challenge posed by the dropout problem
in Quebec as well as the urgent need for
structured,
comprehensive and adequately funded action. “The road to success
begins with acknowledging that a problem exists and putting in place
a realistic strategy for dealing with it. This has now been done,” said
Mr. Ménard, who congratulated the minister on her tenacity and
vision.
The action plan calls
on all of Quebec society, including the department of education, school
boards and schools as well as social
agencies, community
organizations and the business sector. “Getting young people to
stay in school is the responsibility of all society,” added Mr.
Ménard. “This has to be made absolutely clear.”
Mr. Ménard stressed that the minister’s action plan calls
for stakeholders to be involved in children’s lives from birth
through graduation. “The factors that lead to dropping out sometimes
come into play as soon as children are born or during their earliest
years, even before they enter school. The announced actions targeting
this stage in children’s lives are crucial and should be given
all the attention they deserve,” he explained.
Mr. Ménard also mentioned that messages recorded by well-known
Quebec personalities and stars from various media began being aired yesterday
to remind adults and young people of the importance of student retention
and success. The messages are being carried by stations affiliated with
the Corus network. “I want to thank Corus and the Cossette Communication
Group for volunteering their support for this fantastic citizen initiative,
which aims to make the public aware of the dropout problem and the need
to assist our young people,” said the President of BMO Financial
Group, Quebec.
“The minister’s announcement today marks an important step
in the major effort that Quebec has decided to make to help our young
people stay in school,” added
Mr. Ménard.
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