We are pleased to announce that the Ministère de l’Éducation du Québec (MEQ) is now making its common collection available to students and staff of First Nations schools not under agreement !
Background
Since the full deployment of Biblius in September 2021, the Quebec public school network has had access to a common collection of literary works in digital format (novels, picture books, comics, non fiction, etc.). This project is part of a major investment by the MEQ over 5 years.
The public school network includes all school services centers and school boards with regular status, as well as three school boards with special status. The schools in the public network that have First Nations and Inuit students under agreement already have access to the common collection.
Alongside the public network, some forty schools are managed autonomously by non-agreement First Nations. Until now, these schools did not have access to the common collection. However, several steps were taken some months ago with the MEQ and the various collaborators involved, particularly the actors in the book chain, to make this a reality.
As of today, First Nations schools not under agreement have access to the 437 titles in the 2022-2023 shared collection, under the same conditions of use as the public school system. It’s a major step forward in the Biblius project!
Portrait of the First Nations schools not under agreement that have access to Biblius
The majority of First Nations schools not under agreement are members of three major organizations that provide them with educational support services, among other things. These three organizations are :
- First Nations Education Council (24 schools)
- Tshakapesh Institute (7 schools)
- Uashat mak mani – Utenamitum (ITUM) (4 schools)
These three organizations are connected to Biblius and the deployment in their member schools is being carried out progressively. They have a total of approximately 7400 students.
Lastly, in the coming months, the connection to Biblius will be pursued for the First Nations schools not under agreement that are not part of these three groups, as well as those that offer adult education.
We wish them a nice exploration of this collection, and a good digital reading !
