Education

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China to relax its internet restrictions for 100,000 students hit by Australia’s coronavirus travel ban

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Asia/ China/ 18.02.2020/ Source: www.theguardian.com.

China has agreed to relax its internet restrictions, after lobbying from the higher education sector, so international students can study online while they are banned from Australia during the coronavirus outbreak.

Currently more than 100,000 Chinese students, who already have Australian student visas and were planning on commencing their studies this month, are stranded outside of Australia as a result of the government’s 14-day travel ban from mainland China.

On Wednesday, Australia’s Global Reputation Taskforce – an emergency council of universities and education providers – met with education minister Dan Tehan and trade minister Simon Birmingham to discuss how they could limit the potential $8bn hit to the economy.

Phil Honeywood, the chair of the taskforce, told Guardian Australia the ministers had secured new pathways for online courses – which would let isolated students keep their Australian enrolments.

But he warned that a visa approval freeze means Australia could “absolutely lose out” to competitors as Chinese students could easily “go down the road” and obtain student visas for the US, the UK or Canada instead.

The government has not yet announced if the travel ban will be extended by another fortnight, but education providers are “not optimistic” and preparing for the worst.

Honeywood, who is also the head of the International Education Association of Australia, said internet restrictions would be lifted for students, so they could reach university portals for lecture recordings and slides, among other sites.

“There have been challenges over many years with online learning into China but the Chinese government has acknowledged that a more effectual arrangement is appropriate because of the isolation,” he said.

“We’ve been able to make good progress on online learning options into China. There have been really worthwhile negotiations with the Chinese embassy. A number of platforms have been agreed to to deliver online courses to students who are offshore still.

“Not all courses will be suited to online delivery. There will be issues with which units of study can be provided, for what period of time. [But] it is definitely a better situation than we were facing a couple of weeks ago.”

But the universities are concerned that new visa delays, combined with the travel ban, mean Australia could lose out to other countries.

New student visa approvals have been frozen by the department of home affairs since 1 February, even for students who have already been accepted by Australian universities.

Acting immigration minister Alan Tudge confirmed to the Australian that the department was “not finalising applications for individuals currently in mainland China” due to “enhanced border measures”.

International students contributed $34bn to the Australian economy last year. Australia’s main competitors for Chinese students, Canada, the US and the UK run on a different academic year, starting in September, meaning they are less disrupted by the coronavirus outbreak this year.

“The issue we have got is visas allegedly bring processed but not approved,” Honeywood said.

“A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. If you’re a student, and you can’t get an Australian student visa to travel, any time you can go down the road to the Canadian embassy or the US embassy and they are still happily approving visas.

“Chinese students, even if they can’t travel to Australia now, once they have been given a student visa to come and study in Australia, they can once the virus is contained.

“But because no visas have been approved, they are thinking ‘How long is this going on for? Even when the virus is contained, I can’t come to Australia to study because of the whole visa process. I’ll go to Canada and the UK and delay my start date.’”

Honeywood said education minister Tehan was working with immigration minister Tudge “to get some clarification about what might be possible in that visa approval space”.

Meanwhile, individual universities are also offering alternate course schedules for affected students. Melbourne’s Monash University has already pushed back the start date of its semester by a week, while the ANU in Canberra has announced a semester during the traditional winter break to allow Chinese students to catch up on courses.

Other universities, such as the University of New South Wales, have recently changed to a trimester system, and are encouraging students to defer their enrolment to the next trimester, which starts around the beginning of June.

Honeywood said the universities “have to abide by the chief medical officer’s determination” on the length of the travel ban, but that Australia’s higher education sector was uniquely vulnerable to the delay.

“More than other study destination country, we are caught by geographic location and the fact that our academic year starts at the start of the calendar year,” he said.

“Whereas our main competitors, like Canada, the US and UK, their academic year doesn’t start until later, in September. They aren’t faced with a large influx of Chinese students wanting to commence studies until later this year. Australia and New Zealand are in a particular set of circumstances which no other competitor study destinations have.”

Source of the notice: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/13/china-to-open-up-its-internet-for-100000-students-hit-by-australias-coronavirus-travel-ban

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Egypt’s Mama Maggie nominated for 2020 Nobel Prize

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Africa/ Egypt/ 18.02.2020/ Source: egyptindependent.com.

Several national and international institutions and bodies, including the Canadian Parliament, have nominated Egypt’s Magda Gobran, better known as Mama Maggie, for the 2020 Nobel Prize, according to an official announcement made by the Egyptian Ministry of Emigration and Egyptian Expatriates Affairs, on Thursday, February 13.

Canadian MP Garnett Genuis nominated Mama Maggie in recognition of her constant commitment and dedication to serving illiterate and poor women throughout Egypt.

She was previously nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012.

Mama Maggie has been honored for her humanitarian work by many prestigious organizations and international officials.

In March 2019, First Lady Melania Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo honored her among ten women at the International Women of Courage Awards ceremony in Washington, DC. The ceremony was held to celebrate ten women from various countries who have shown exceptional courage and strength while driving noticeable change in their societies in the realms of social justice, human rights, peace, women’s empowerment, and gender equality, according to a statement.

Moreover, Mama Maggie is the only Egyptian to have received the Arab Hope Makers award granted by Emirates Vice President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

Known as the “Egyptian Mother Theresa,” Mama Maggie is a Coptic Orthodox Christian who left her career as a professor at The American University in Cairo for a life of devotion working as a servant of Egypt’s Coptic church to improve the lives of underprivileged Egyptians, especially those of women and children.

Known as the founder of the charitable organization “Stephen’s Children,” Mama Maggie began her journey visiting the slums of Hay El Zabaleen in Moqattam during Easter to distribute food and clothes among the families there. Raised by a middle-class family, Gobran was shocked by the misery she saw.

She decided to establish the non-governmental organization Stephen’s Children with a clear vision: “To help save lives, bring hope, and restore dignity to underprivileged children and young people,” according to the organization’s official website.

The organization’s efforts are mainly concentrated within Egyptian slums with the aim of building strong relationships with the people who live there.

One of the organization’s main purposes is to help children by providing young people with early, elementary, and secondary education along with necessary vocational skills.

Stephen’s Children has a branch in nearly every Egyptian governorate. At each branch, well-trained volunteers facilitate the delivery of blankets, meals, medical supplies and other necessities. The organization also offers high-quality support services and counseling to disadvantaged people across Egypt’s governorates.

The organization has successfully launched nearly 100 community education centers where basic education and literacy classes are available for all ages.

In the more than 100 community education centers founded by Stephen’s Children, children receive free basic education and adults attend literacy classes. These resources aim to provide them the tools they need to earn a living wage and lift themselves out of poverty.

In 2017, Egypt’s illiteracy rate stood at 25.7 percent, according to figures from the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), with women making up the majority.

According to the 2017 figures, the rate of illiteracy among young people (15-24 years) was only 6.9 percent, compared to a much higher 63.4 percent recorded among the elderly (60 years or older). Upper Egypt has recorded the highest illiteracy rates in recent years, with around 30 percent of the population of Beni Suez governorate illiterate as of 2017.

Meanwhile, Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) announced in November 2019 that the percentage of Egyptians living below the poverty line increased during the 2017/2018 fiscal year to 32.5 percent, compared to 27.8 percent in 2015: an increase of 4.7 percent.

According to a CAPMAS survey addressing income and expenditures in 2017/2018, the average total expenditure of families increased to LE51,000 annually, compared with LE36,000 in 2015.

In a 2015 survey, about 27.8 percent of the Egyptian population was living below the poverty line, an income of LE5,787.9 annually and LE482 monthly.

Source of the notice: https://egyptindependent.com/egypts-mama-maggie-nominated-for-2020-nobel-prize/

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UK universities issue health warnings over travel to China

Sally Weale

By: Sally Weale.

 

UK universities with links to China have issued warnings to staff and students travelling to and from areas affected by the coronavirus, urging anyone with symptoms to seek medical advice.

With concern growing about the spread of the virus, universities in the UK are keeping a check on staff who have recently returned from Wuhan, the city at the centre of the outbreak, as well as Chinese students who come from affected areas, many of whom will be concerned about loved ones at home.

China has become an increasingly important partner in UK higher education in recent years, with 120,000 Chinese students enrolled in UK universities last year and numerous partnerships and collaborations between universities in the UK and China.

Nine UK institutions have partnerships with Wuhan University in Hubei Province in central China, among them Dundee University which runs an architecture course in collaboration with Wuhan.

In an email to students, the university urged anyone who had travelled to affected areas and was suffering symptoms to contact their GP by phone, avoid crowded places and alert the people they live with.

Dr Jim McGeorge, university secretary and chief operating officer at Dundee, also warned students to take care if receiving packages from areas where the virus is present, especially if a package contains food items. Experts believe the virus has come from animals, possibly seafood.

In the case of the Dundee-Wuhan university partnership, Chinese students complete their first four years of study in Wuhan, and come to Dundee for their fifth and final year, often choosing to remain in the Scottish city to complete their master’s degree.

A statement from the university said: “There are currently 34 students from the programme in Dundee, having arrived in September 2019. There have been no health concerns raised among that group but we will continue to monitor the situation closely.”

The Chinese architecture students are among 900 students from China currently on the Dundee campus, of which 104 matriculated in January with a further 48 due to arrive later this month or next. The university confirmed that five members of staff returned from a visit to Wuhan last week, but there were no current health concerns.

The University of Glasgow, meanwhile, has a partnership with the Zhongnan University of Economics and Law in Wuhan. A total of 23 Chinese students are in the final two years of their degree in the school of mathematics and statistics. “We can confirm that all our Chinese students on this programme are currently studying at the university and in good health,” a spokesperson said.

Aberdeen also has a partnership with Wuhan University. “The university is aware of five members of staff who have visited Wuhan during the outbreak, four of whom returned to the university three or more weeks ago,” a spokesperson said. “The remaining member of staff has a non-teaching role and is working from home as a precautionary measure.”

Newcastle University hosts around 300 students who have links with Hubei province. “We are writing to them all to remind them to follow the health protection advice and to offer support to any student concerned about themselves or loved ones,” a spokesperson said. The university has also arranged a special health advice event for students arriving from China in the last month, to ensure they register with a doctor.

“In line with Foreign and Commonwealth Office advice, the university is advising that staff and students don’t travel to this area,” a spokesperson said.

Since the cap was lifted on the number of students able to study at UK universities in 2015, the sector has worked hard to increase recruitment from China. According to the most recent data, published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, the number of Chinese students studying in UK higher education institutions exceeded 120,000 for the first time last year, a 13% increase on the previous year and up from fewer than 90,000 in 2014/15.

Liverpool University has one of the biggest Chinese student populations. It too has issued guidance to any student currently in or planning to travel to China in the immediate future. A statement on the university website said: “We would advise our students to avoid travelling to Wuhan if possible and follow basic hygiene rules including regular hand washing; maintain good personal hygiene; avoid visiting animal and bird markets, avoid people who are ill with respiratory symptoms [and] seek medical attention if you develop respiratory symptoms within 14 days of visiting Wuhan, either in China, or on return to the UK.”

Birmingham University also confirmed that students from a range of partner universities in Wuhan City are currently studying in the city. A spokesperson said those students would have travelled to the university months ago and the risk of infection was low.

Source of the article: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/jan/23/uk-universities-issue-health-warnings-over-travel-to-china-coronavirus

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Canada: What you should know about this week’s teacher strikes

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North America/ Canada /18.02.2020/ Source: www.cbc.ca.

Over two million students will be out of class this Friday as Ontario’s four largest teacher unions plan to hold a joint one-day strike if there is no progress in contract talks with the provincial government.

The unions that will participate in Friday’s strike are the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO), the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) and the Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO).

Classes are also cancelled on Monday for Family Day. At the moment, no strikes have been announced for Tuesday through Thursday.

Negotiations at a standstill

Contract negotiations between the Progressive Conservative government and the education unions have largely stalled with several major issues unresolved, including the role of seniority in hiring practices, class sizes, funding for students with special education needs and mandatory e-learning.

The unions are also asking for around two per cent in annual salary increases, while the government won’t budge beyond offering one per cent.

It passed legislation last year capping wage hikes for all public sector workers at one per cent for three years. The teachers’ unions and several others are fighting the law in court, arguing it infringes on collective bargaining rights.

See below for a list of eastern Ontario school closures for the upcoming week. Make sure to visit your school board’s website for the most up-to-date information.

Monday Feb. 17

Schools will be closed for Family Day.

Friday Feb. 21

Ottawa-Carleton District School Board

All OCDSB schools will be closed.

Extended Day programs and all Community Use of School permits will also be cancelled.

Ottawa Catholic School Board

All OCSB schools will be closed, unless an agreement is reached between the province and OECTA. All bus and van transportation will also be cancelled.

Before- and after-school programs will be cancelled for the day, although all Ottawa Catholic Child Care Corporation Toddler and Preschool programs and all EarlyOn Centres will be open and will operate according to their regular hours.

Community Use of Schools programming is not affected by the one-day provincial strike.

Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario 

All CDSBEO elementary and secondary schools will be closed to students.

Parents who have children that attend child care or before- and after-school care programs in CDSBEO facilities should contact their individual provider for details during the strike.

Upper Canada District School Board

All UCDSB students will have the day off as schools are closed.

Parents and guardians whose children attend a child-care facility at a UCDSB school should contact their child-care provider with any questions.

Boards across the province have cancelled classes on Friday, as teachers take part in an Ontario-wide one-day strike. (Raphael Tremblay/CBC)

Renfrew County District School Board

All elementary and secondary schools will be closed.

Child-care facilities may continue to operate. Parents and guardians should contact their operator to confirm whether they will remain open and if they’ll have additional child-care spaces during strike days.

Community-use bookings will continue as usual.

Limestone District School Board

All elementary and secondary schools will be closed, and students in Grades 9 to 12 should not attend school. This includes students in co-op and those attending dual credit and programs at St. Lawrence College.

Literacy and Basic Skills, Adult ESL and Teacher Assisted Self-Study programs will also not run.

Extra-curricular activities, field trips and all sports sanctioned by the Kingston Area Secondary Schools Athletic Association will be cancelled.

Hastings-Prince Edward District School Board 

Classes are cancelled for all students.

Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board 

All ALCDSB schools will be closed to students.

Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario

Classes and school transportation will be cancelled.

Before- and after-school programs for toddlers, preschoolers and children ages four to 12 will not operate.

For daycare services operated by a third party, parents and guardians should contact the child-care service to check if they will remain open. Programs for infants, toddlers and preschoolers offered by third-party partners will be open.

Conseil des écoles catholiques du Centre-Est 

All classes will be cancelled.

Daycare centres for preschool children will remain open, except for l’Académie catholique Notre-Dame and l’École élémentaire catholique L’Envol, both of which will be closed.

Parents of school-aged children who require child care should contact their provider to learn if those centres will remain open.

All EarlyON Centres will be closed with the exception of:

  • l’École élémentaire catholique Jean-Robert-Gauthier.
  • l’École élémentaire catholique Des Voyageurs.
  • l’École secondaire catholique Béatrice-Desloges.
  • le Centre scolaire catholique Jeanne-Lajoie.

Source of the notice: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/school-strikes-third-week-february-1.5464875

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Kenya: West Pokot County Govt launch Ksh 400 Million bursary fund.

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Africa/Kenya/16-02-2020/Author(a): West Pokot/Source: www.kbc.co.ke

West Pokot County Government has launched a four hundred million shilling bursary kitty for needy students.

The bursary is set to benefit students from secondary, colleges and universities.

Speaking when he launched the disbursement exercise of the bursary at Ortum Boys high school, West Pokot Governor Prof John Lonyangapuo said that school enrollment in the County had increased sharply.

He stated that school retention and transition rates had also improved significantly.

Ortum Boys Secondary School which has the highest number of students from West Pokot received a total of Ksh 13 million.

“We have a vision on education, economy and equity to shun vices. Education is not devolved but we have invested heavily in education. There is no cattle rustling in the North Rift region and we are giving out bursaries without discrimination or based on political parties or tribe,” he said.

The County boss pointed out that students from households affected by recent landslides will be considered for an additional amount.

He also noted that his administration had put emphasis on matters concerning education to help reduce illiteracy levels and empower the people of West Pokot.

Governor Lonyangapuo also called on the Teachers ServiceCcommission (TSC) CEO Nancy Macharia to post more teachers saying the region is understaffed.

He said that the County will start a scholarship program which will enhance specialist’s technical courses for self-sufficiency in terms of expertise.

Source and Image: https://www.kbc.co.ke/west-pokot-county-govt-launch-ksh-400-million-bursary-fund/

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Egypt: High court rules Cairo University can restrict use of full veils

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Africa/ Egypt/ 11.02.2020/ By: Salwa Samir/ Source: www.al-monitor.com.

After five years of public debate, Egypt’s top court has settled the issue: Cairo University, one of Egypt’s oldest higher education institutions, can ban its professors from wearing full-face veils, or niqabs, inside lecture halls. The ban does not apply to the rest of the campus.

The High Administrative Court ruled Jan. 27 that, while a person’s choice of attire is among the personal freedoms guaranteed by the constitution, this freedom is not limitless and should not contradict public morals. The court noted that the Regulation of Universities Law doesn’t require staff members to don uniforms, but does demand that they abide by university traditions. With its ruling, the court rejected the appeal by some 80 of the schools’ teachers who challenged the ban.

The next day, Cairo University media adviser Mahmoud Alam Eddin told CBC News that the niqab ban in lecture halls would be implemented by Feb. 8, the start of the second semester. Professors who don’t comply won’t be allowed to teach, he added.

Ain Shams University quickly followed suit, with President Mahmoud al-Metiny announcing Feb. 4 that his school would implement a ban immediately.

The controversy arose five years ago when Gaber Nassar, former president of Cairo University, called for the prohibition. Nassar said back then that the veil hinders clear communication with students, especially during academic lectures.

Egyptian parliament members have attempted numerous times to prohibit niqabs.

In 2018, legislator Ghada Ajami proposed a draft law that called for banning all women from wearing the niqab in public places such as restaurants, universities and parks and called for violators to be fined 1,000 Egyptian pounds ($63) or more.

Ajami described the niqab as a source of sedition in society, as it reflects the extremist ideology of ultraconservative movements. She said the ban would help combat terrorism. But after backlash over the proposal, Ajami gave up the effort, acknowledging a ban might cause divisions in the country.

That same year, Mohamed Abu Hamed, another lawmaker, called on the prime minister to ban the full-face veil in state and educational institutions, similar to action taken in Algeria. But many parliamentarians rejected his call, saying it would restrict personal freedom.

Cairo University is not the first institution to succeed in barring its staff from wearing the niqab. Al-Azhar, Egypt’s top religious authority, made the call in 2009.

The former grand imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Mohammed Sayyid Tantawi, issued a decision to ban female staff and students from donning the niqab at the university, even in dormitories. Tantawi said the full-face veil is a sign of radicalism and has nothing to do with Islam.

There are supporters and opponents of the ban at Cairo University and in the general public. The Revolutionary Socialists, a movement established in 2011 after the January 25 Revolution, rejected the court’s decision.

It said in a statement on Facebook, «We must defend women’s right to choose their clothing.» The university should pay attention to «factors that actually affect the educational process and the ability of a faculty member to deliver knowledge, not her appearance.»

Lawmaker Dalia Youssef hailed the recent ruling and called for extending the ban to include students as well, to help shape Egyptian society’s way of thinking.

“I asked the minister of higher education [and the Ministry of Health] to issue a decision that applies to all universities,» she said by phone on an al-Haya TV talk show Jan. 28. «The matter doesn’t require a draft law, as there is already a court ruling.”

Shaimaa Mousa, an assistant lecturer in Greek and Latin studies at Cairo University’s School of Arts, told Al-Monitor she totally agrees with the ban.

“Actually, I am against the niqab, whether in or outside the university. How can I communicate with a person who is fully veiled except for her eyes?” Mousa said. “The face and body language are among the most important tools of communication.»

However, Mousa noted that niqab wearers may find ways to circumvent the ban, as one ultraconservative Muslim recently suggested. Sameh Abdel Hamid, former leader of the Salafist Nour party, said Jan. 28 on Facebook that niqab-wearing staff at Cairo University should instead wear medical masks in lecture halls. He claimed the masks have many benefits, like avoiding the coronavirus. “The law will not prevent the use of masks,” Abdel Hamid said.

Source of notice: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/02/egypt-cairo-university-ban-niqab-religion-freedom.html

 

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Teachers strike puts 950,000 kids out of school. Here’s what’s keeping the Ford government and unions apart

Mike Crawley

By: Mike Crawley.

Classes are cancelled Thursday for nearly one million elementary school kids, as Ontario’s biggest teachers’ union holds its first provincewide strike.

This move by the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO) marks a significant ratcheting up of the dispute between Premier Doug Ford’s government and the four teachers’ unions.

ETFO’s plans for both provincewide and rotating strikes mean that every elementary school student in the public system stands to lose four days of school in a two-week period.

There are no signs that a deal is imminent for any of the major unions.

  • The Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF) hasn’t bargained with the province and school boards since mid-December.
  • The Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) held one day of talks on Monday, but its president says there was «no real progress.» The union went ahead with a provincewide strike on Tuesday, cancelling school for some 500,000 Catholic school students.
  • ETFO was close to a deal last Friday after three days of bargaining, but union president Sam Hammond says the government introduced new proposals that scuttled the talks.

All in all, a bleak situation, whether you’re a teacher, a parent, a taxpayer or a member of the Ford government.

Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce’s government must work out separate deals with four different teachers’ unions. (Colin Cote-Paulette/CBC)

So where does it go from here?

It’s important to keep in mind that there are four separate sets of negotiations going on (the fourth, and by far the smallest, union represents teachers in the French-language school system). The Progressive Conservatives need to get deals with each union, and the only way to do that is one at a time, with the hope that each settlement provides momentum toward the next.

ETFO President Sam Hammond on why the union is ramping-up strike action:

Ontario elementary teachers union president explains ramped-up job action

This is one of the ways we’re taking a stand,’  says Sam Hammond, accusing the provincial government of not investing enough in education.  0:37

That’s why Ford and his team might come to regret that they missed the opportunity to get a deal with the ETFO last week.

Considering the different issues at play in each set of negotiations, and the proposals on the table from the province, a deal with the ETFO is arguably the easiest. That’s because the government’s controversial proposals for increased average class sizes and mandatory online courses only affect secondary schools, so they aren’t at issue in the talks with the elementary teachers’ union.

The Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) held a province-wide strike on Tuesday, cancelling school for some 500,000 Catholic school students. (Michael Charles Cole/CBC)

Still, there remains plenty in dispute between the ETFO and the province, chiefly:

  • The government wants to limit the wage increase to one per cent annually, while the union wants a wage hike that meets the inflation rate.
  • The government wants to change a rule that requires principals to choose from only the most senior teachers in the supply pool when hiring for long-term and permanent teaching jobs.
  • The union says the government’s proposal for special education funding is less than half what was in its 2017 collective agreement.
  • The union wants enhancements to benefits. It’s not clear how big an ask this is, but government officials hint that it’s on the pricey side.

These gaps are not impossible for the two sides to bridge. But it’s hard to conceive how it actually happens.

The Ford government looks highly unlikely to offer more than a one per cent wage increase. Doing so would breach its own public sector wage-cap legislation, one of its hallmark policies, and set a precedent for the rest of the teachers’ unions, as well as every public sector contract negotiation to come.

ETFO’s plans for both province-wide and rotating strikes mean that every elementary school student in the public system stands to lose four days of school in a two-week period. (Kate Bueckert/CBC)

The teachers’ unions look unlikely to back down. They appear more united than in previous rounds of contentious bargaining, such as 2012 when OECTA agreed to a framework deal that ETFO and OSSTF rejected outright. Strike pay makes picketing days less financially painful for teachers, and the unions’ strike funds are deep enough to sustain further walkouts.

That leaves the prospect of growing disruption to people’s lives as elementary-age kids start losing school days to strikes more frequently.

But predicting how that disruption will affect public opinion is tricky. If parents repeatedly have to scramble for child care, will they blame the unions or the government?

So far, public opinion about the strikes seems to be correlated with people’s overall views of the Ford government. Those who support the teachers generally didn’t vote PC in the last election. Likewise, there’s no evidence that the government’s core supporters object to its handling of the negotiations.

Unless something shifts drastically in the next few days, strikes look set to continue at least until Queen’s Park resumes sitting on Feb. 18. After that, it becomes just a matter of time until the most likely scenario for ending the disputes unfolds: back-to-work legislation.

Source of the article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-teacher-strike-etfo-analysis-osstf-oecta-1.5453447

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