The political education reform movement Coalition for Quality Education has officially launched its new website and its latest campaign ‘What About Me‘. Started against a backdrop of community unrest and dissatisfaction regarding how public education is delivered in Canada, concerned taxpayers and parents believe the coalition will be the beginning of much needed educational reform.
Their newest campaign What About Me represents public education as seen through the eyes of a child left behind, lost at school, discriminated against by inaction by the provincial governments and the actions by the school boards and trustees. The children shown in the campaign represent the hundreds if not thousands of Canadian children who do not receive accessible and fair education in this country.
The Coalition and its supporters believe their goal is to not only expose abuses, shine a light on irregularities and focus their attention on boards that violate the rights of the many for the select few but rather to offer a voice to the many left behind in today’s public education system.
For far too long, the public has felt that the provincial governments and the Ministry of Education within each province often turn their backs on ensuring accessible and fair public education is delivered to all children.
As such, community members across Canada wanting equitable public education for all decided to join forces and demand change. Their membership and support has grown from a grass roots organization into a cohesive organization with a common message. Membership and support comes from professionals and residents from a variety of backgrounds including consultants, writers, lawyers, teachers, technology specialists, doctors, business leaders, senior citizens, and more.
Their goal is one of unity, equality, fairness, accountability and the rights afforded by the Canadian tax system that is supposed to provide just public education for all. Canadian public education is now based on want not need often at the cost of the most vulnerable.
Too often, school boards and elected trustees highjack process, push programming, take over schools and buy votes. One only needs to look no further than the newspaper columns about our communities across Ontario, treatment of native children, inconsistent and unfair delivery of French education and the inept responses from our school boards and politicians when complaints are raised to know serious political change is needed.
The Coalition for Quality Education is fighting for political change, election change, transparency, honesty, accountability, consistency in what is delivered and to who.
The Coalition for Quality Education is sending a very loud message to politicians, school boards and trustees who have left children behind.
Stop hijacking our children’s education, their future and their hopes. Stop providing private education on taxpayer dollars when you leave mandated programming and the most vulnerable behind.
In addition to striving for equality this organization seeks real political change including but not limited to limited trustee terms, developing an oversight body (ombusman or compliance office), developing comprehensive and enforceable policies and processes that ensure board level decisions do not violate human rights, cleanup and standardization of French education, monitoring and/or intervening on program decisions that violate and discriminate, protection of mandated programming, regulation and changes to self governing board policies, etc.
It is a huge task but the Coalition believes that the public want change, accountability and action on what it believes is abuses by self governing school boards and Ministries that do nothing about these abuses.
No longer will the excuse by a Minister that ‘programming is at the board level’ be good enough. Where abuses are reported and complaints are heard, action needs to be taken. Where ‘we deliver French education’ excuses are heard, Ministers must ensure delivery of optional programming does not violate the rights of others. Where political change is required during elections, then the Coalition plans to be a vocal force ensuring political change occurs.
This organization plans to be the watchdog for those who leave our children behind. No rock will go unturned. The Coalition wants the the message out …”.watch out …we are coming”.
To find out more about the Coalition for Quality Education go to their new website at go to the Coalition for Quality Education website. It is located at www.ccfqe.com.
To find out about the What About Me campaign, click on the What About Me campaign button on the right side on the home page.
