Minister claims education just as good in portable as in permanent classroom
Posted August 30, 2016 12:27 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – As your kids return to school next week, there’s a good chance they’ll be in portables, especially in Surrey.
Education Minister Mike Bernier believes the physical makeup of the classroom is less important than the actual teaching students receive.
“The education you get, I think it’s important to stress, is not any less by one school to another or one portable to a classroom,” says Bernier. “It’s what takes place inside.”
But he insists work is being done to create more permanent school building in communities where that’s needed.
“Over the next few years…that’s 7,000 spaces that are going to be created,” says Bernier. “So you would anticipate or expect that there would be fewer portables going forward as those projects are completed.”
This comes as the Surrey school district expects an additional 1,000 kids this year. That boosts the total number of students to 71,000 range in that district.
The influx is causing a scramble to ensure enough classrooms — the district expects there will be 275 portables set up, including 18 at Lord Tweedsmuir alone.
