Hooked on School Days

Since 2004, Hooked on School Days (HSD) has mobilized all of Québec to highlight the value of staying in school and encouraging academic success.

Over the years, HSD has become an annual opportunity to increase awareness and engagement and to highlight the importance of getting involved with young people and supporting them in their efforts to succeed.

This week-long event in the third week of February falls at a crucial time in the school year, when students may experience a drop in energy and motivation. HSD is thus a forum in which Québec society can encourage students, highlight their efforts, and listen to their motivations and aspirations.

Objectives

HSD is a broad awareness and mobilization campaign aimed at helping to change social norms so that:

  • A majority of Québec’s population deems that staying in school and getting an education is essential to a society’s positive development.
  • Each of us takes action to encourage young people to stay in school.
  • A majority of stakeholders (political decision-makers and employers) feel that they can play an active role in encouraging young people aged 0 to 20 to continue their education and earn a diploma or a qualification.
  • A majority of Québec’s population feels that helping young people aged 0 to 20 stay in school and earn a diploma or qualification should be something that happens both inside and outside the school.

Despite the difficulties and obstacles, many young people are engaging, adapting, and persevering. And while some have had trouble adjusting to this new normal, all have the ability to reach their full potential. There is no magic formula for educational success or any single path to motivation, but qualities such as resiliency, adaptability, and self-confidence all help to promote learning and engagement with school.

Every young person has their own motivations. Some are driven by the pleasure of learning or by the ambition to pursue a desired profession, but for many, success comes through the involvement and quality of their social network.

Together, we have to trust that they will develop their own mechanisms for success, while reminding them that they will be rewarded for their efforts. Today’s youth are going through an unusual situation, but they are learning much from the experience that they can use for the future.

Your actions and words help to kindle our young people’s success; whatever their path or starting point, you have the power to reengage them.

SOURCE Réseau des Instances régionales de concertation sur la persévérance scolaire et la réussite éducative du Québec