New pre-kindergarten classes 'necessary, but not sufficient,' expert says

The announcement of additional funding for 30 more pre-kindergarten classes in low-income neighbourhoods is a step in the right direction, but Quebec still falls short of where it should be, according to a leading education expert.

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"My main comment is necessarybut not sufficient," saidgide Royer, who teaches educational psychology at Laval University.

Earlier in the day, Education Minister Sbastien Proulx announced his government will fund a total of 100 pre-kindergarten classes beginning in September, up from 70 now.

The total cost is pegged at $10.4 million.

Ten of those classes will be will be created in the English-speaking school network.

The announcement comes as Premier Philippe Couillardentersthe final stretch of what has been a rocky legislative session for his government.

"It shows what we meant when we said once we have room to manoeuvre, we would invest in education," saidCouillard, referring to his government's promiseto spend more money oneducation once the deficit was eliminated.

Quebec's 'really troublesome' drop-out rate

However,Royer saidthe government should extend pre-kindergarten to all four-year-old children,in order to combat the province's notoriously low graduation rate.

One out of three boys and one out of five girls have no diploma at the age of 20.

"We need this in Quebec right now because the situation is really troublesome," Royer said. "When you are able to intervene in pre-kindergarten, we are giving them a very strong helpincreasing the chances that they will succeed in school."

In Ontario, 85 per cent of students graduate high school on time.

There's no reason why that cannot be the case in this province, saidRoyer.

"It's not Finland, it's not Europe. It's on the other side of the Outaouais River."

Couillardnot 'education premier' yet

Last month at the Quebec Liberal Party's general council meeting, Couillard told party members he wants to be known as the "education premier."

However, Royer saidhe will have to do a lot more in order to achieve such a title, including establishing universal pre-kindergarten by 2020, setting upa provincial centre of excellence in educationand creating a professional order of teachers.