All elementary and secondary schools in the Upper Grand District School Board and the Wellington Catholic District School Board will be closed on Feb. 21 as part of a province-wide strike.
The strike will include workers represented by the four major education unions in Ontario: the Association of Franco-Ontarian teachers, (AEFO), the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO), the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) and the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF/FEESO).
Approximately 200,000 teachers and education workers across 72 school boards and roughly 5,000 schools will participate in the walkout across the province to protest recent changes to education by the Ford government.
Feb. 21 will be the first time teachers and education workers across Ontario will all protest on the same day since the last political protest in 1997 where education workers and teachers across Ontario protested government funding.
“Educators in every school board will not stay silent as the Ford government proceeds to decimate our publicly funded education system,” said ETFO President Sam Hammond in a press release.
“Our unions and members helped build Ontario’s world-class education system. By not seriously addressing the issues critical to students and student learning, the Ford government has made a sham of contract talks over the last seven months.”
In a press release, OECTA president Liz Stuart said the union has already seen the effects of the provincial government’s cuts.
“The Ford government is reducing supports for students with special education needs and mental health issues. It is squeezing students into overcrowded classes and forcing high school students to take e-learning courses. If we allow the government to implement its plan fully, thousands of teaching positions and tens of thousands, of course, options will be lost,” said Stuart.
In a press release, OSSTF/FEESO President Harvey Bischof said it is now evident that the Ford government’s agenda is entirely ideological and not at all concerned with providing quality education.
“They are pulling resources out of the public education system and, with schemes like mandatory e-learning, laying the groundwork for private interests to profit from our students’ education. We are heartened that so many parents are standing with us against the dismantling of Ontario’s public education system,” said Bischof.
“It is now evident that the Ford government’s agenda is entirely ideological and not at all concerned with providing quality education,” says OSSTF/FEESO President Harvey Bischof.
