|
Punjab students in Ontario edgy
about strike
WSN Network
MOGA: Fate of
thousands of Indian students hangs in the balance as a possible
strike across college campuses in Ontario seems imminent after talks
broke down between the college authorities and the Ontario Public
Service Employees Union which represents 9,000 teachers, counsellors
and librarians.
Now, all is set
for a strike vote on January 13. Colleges in
Ontario
had remained shut for 21 days during a similar strike by the union
in 2006, which affected 50,000 students. If the union gets a
mandate, the strike will affect more than 2,00,000 students across
the province.
Many of these
students are Sikhs hailing from Punjab and other places and are not
interested in strike. Also, a strike has a financial effect since
there is no provision for tuition fee refund in such cases and
students are already hit by recession with scarce jobs and rising
prices.
Some students
fear losing their entire term or the winter term getting extended to
summer. Such a scenario does not allow students to take up summer
jobs to continue in college.
Canada had
recently relaxed norms to increase the intake of students from India
under the special pilot project programme. Thousands of Indian
students, most of whom are Punjabis, have got student visas under
the relaxed norms.
23
December 2009
|
Read Also