Ontario Teachers' Strike Paralyses Publicly-Funded Schools, Over 2 Million Students Remain Out Of Class

The Ontario province-wide strike of elementary and secondary school teachers and their supporters completely shut down the schools having over two million students, reports the Global News.

About 30,000 teacher members, belonging to four teachers' unions -- the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO), Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation (OSSTF), Ontario English Catholic Teachers' Association (OECTA), and Association des enseignantes et des enseignants franco-ontariens (AEFO) -- participated in the walkout and demonstrated on the compounds of the Queen's Park, the provincial parliament in Toronto. 

The bones of contention were disagreement on the class sizes, full-day kindergarten, e-learning, teachers' compensation, special education, and teacher hiring. 

For further details, please read the following:

• Entire Ontario public school system closed, millions out of class Friday as teachers strike (Feb. 21, 2020)
• 'We're in it for the kids': Education unions lead thousands in job action at Queen's Park (Feb. 21, 2020)
• These are the key issues in the Ontario teachers' disputes with the province (Feb. 21, 2020)
• Ontario's teachers' unions walk off job together in provincewide strike (Feb. 21, 2020)
• Teachers surround Ontario legislature during provincewide strike (Feb. 21, 2020)

All photos above (in Queen's Park, 

Toronto: Feb. 21, 2020) © Jerome D'Costa

The Quotation of the Week (June 10 - 16, 2018)

A quotation of Edward Everett on 'education,' compiled by Jerome D'Costa

Photo (A walkway in an apartment building in Scarborough, Toronto: April, 2018) © Jerome D'Costa

The Quotation of the Week (February 12 - 18, 2017)

A quotation of Ralph Waldo Emerson on 'education,' compiled by Jerome D'Costa

Photo (The front gate of St. Joseph Higher Secondary School, run by Holy Cross Brothers, at Mohammadpur, Dhaka, Bangladesh: January 2, 2012) © Jerome D'Costa

The Quotation of the Week (December 8-14, 2013)

A quotation of Nelson Mandela on 'education,' compiled by Jerome D'Costa

Photo (A street in Tongi, where white-dressed Bangladeshi Muslim girls, on the right, are walking to school through a maze of vehicles) © Jerome D'Costa

Bangladesh Catholic Church Has Its Own Teachers' Training College

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Sister Moli Costa, CSC, the principal of Archbishop T. A. Ganguly
Teachers' Training College, on the day of the inauguration.
Archbishop T. A. Ganguly's photo is on the background.

(L - R) The teachers' training college principal Sister Moli Costa, CSC,
Holy Cross College professor Sister Joseph Mary, CSC,
and Holy Cross Brothers' superior Brother Binoy Gomes, CSC,
with other participants at the inauguration ceremony

St. Joseph's Higher Secondary School and College,
where Archbishop T. A. Ganguly Teachers' Training
College is holding its classes in the afternoon
Photos received through the courtesy of Brother Nipu Hubert Rozario, CSC

Archbishop Paulinus Costa inaugurated Archbishop T. A. Ganguly Teachers' Training College in Dhaka on June 25, 2009. Vatican nuncio Archbishop Joseph Marino, Chairman of the Episcopal Commission for Christian Education Bishop Theotonius Gomes, CSC, and the only Christian member of the Parliament Promode Mankin were present at the ceremony along with other guests and teachers and students of the college.

Housed at St. Joseph's Higher Secondary School and College building, the teachers' training classes started on July 1 with 34 students. Sister Moli Gomes, CSC, is the first principal of this college, which has a capacity for 100 students. Both Catholic and non-Catholic teachers will receive training in this college.

Named after Archbhishop Theotonius Amal Ganguly, CSC, -- the first Bangali bishop and archbishop of Bangladesh -- the college is run by the Episcopal Commission for Christian Education under the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Bangladesh (CBCB). It is noteworthy that the canonization process of Archbishop Ganguly started in the recent past.

The Pratibeshi, the national Catholic weekly, reports that among 120 teachers' colleges in Bangladesh, it is the first such Christian college. The Catholic Church in its six dioceses of Bangladesh is involved in education since 1853. It has four colleges, 48 high schools, 12 junior high schools, and more than 130 primary schools.