The April Fool joke receives a failed rating from N.S. Prime Minister and Minister of Education Provincial | News

HALIFAX, N.S. –

While it’s fun to have a sense of humor on April Fool’s Day, the difficulty it has spread on social media about closing and reopening schools in Nova Scotia has been anything but ridiculous, say the provincial prime minister and education minister.

“This is someone’s idea of ​​an April joke. In the current atmosphere of fighting COVID-19 and trying to rectify the facts, this is not funny,” Prime Minister Stephen McNeil posted on his Facebook page. “It’s irresponsible and clearly false.”

The joke referred to what appeared to be an official provincial notice from Nova Scotia’s Department of Education and Early Childhood Education. It reads:

“Dear teachers, parents and pupils from Nova Scotia,

As the prime minister said Monday, Nova Scotia has extended the closure of all public schools until May 1, 2020, as part of a provincial coronavirus response. Based on the latest epidemiological projects, the Prime Minister has decided to extend the closure by another month until May 31, 2020, but we are confident that schools will be able to reopen on Monday, June 1, 2020.

To make up for the lost time we will have from March to May, the province will extend the school year from June 1, 2020 to August 28, 2020. There will then be a short break for the holidays until the beginning of the next academic year on Wednesday, September 2, 2020. . “

The notice was ‘signed’ by the Honorable Zach Churchill, Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development.

McNeil had no fun and took the opportunity to remind the public what was going on.

“Here are the facts,” he posted on his Facebook page. “We have delayed the reopening of schools until May 1. Then we will evaluate whether it is safe to reopen the schools. It is fun to have a sense of humor at April Fool,” he added, “but I would encourage everyone to understand the impact of their words during this very difficult time. . “

This echoed Churchill.

“Everyone appreciates the joke of the first fool and we don’t want to lose our sense of humor during times like this. In fact, our humor is likely to get past us,” he said in an interview. “But at a time when anxiety is high, where it’s hard enough to tell the facts in a whole new situation that has a certain level of uncertainty with it, it’s really irresponsible to fool people this way, especially making communication look so official.”

Churchill said the communication is difficult enough if others do not convey false information, even if it is meant as a joke.

In this case, while the ‘official announcement’ was being shared on social media, some immediately recognized it as an April Fool’s joke, others were unsure if it was real or not leading to confusion and for those who believed it to be true, it created an additional anxiety.

Churchill noted that linking resources to address concerns about the things that were assembled deprives those resources of important importance for all Newcomers during the COVID-19 state of emergency.

“We’re trying to reach parents, children and teachers and it’s not completely clear to people what’s going on.” It takes a lot of effort and resources just to convey the facts of the situation and then chase the rumors, it’s really problematic, “he said.” It really really complicates things in a time that’s complicated enough. “

Churchill noted that people can continue to visit the department’s website, a website dedicated to learning for families: https://curriculum.novascotia.ca/learning-home, and the websites of regional centers of education and CSAP for updates on the educational situation. The plan for next month is to continue student learning through online resources and at home.

The Prime Minister, meanwhile, thanked those who had gone through these uncertain times.

“I am very proud of our teachers for supporting the Nova Scotia learning plan and helping students navigate home-based learning,” he said. “I also want to thank parents and students for working with their teachers in this unprecedented time.”

RELATED: