There has been a lot of unrest across Canada this week because of the continuous fluctuation of universities on their decision for in-person learning. Many Canadian universities have planned to resume classes on campus from next Monday, i.e. January 31, which is the main reason behind the recent disturbance throughout the country.
The three Canadian universities of Ontario, The University of Ottawa, the University of Guelph, and Western University have settled on a phased approach (based on activity and class size) to return to in-person learning on January 31. Other than that, the University of Toronto and the University of Waterloo have chosen February 7 to return to campus. Carleton University also chose February 7 as they want “to give everyone additional time to prepare”, as stated by the president and vice-chancellor.
On the other hand, McGill University declares the in-person learning approach as “nuanced” and supports the safety concerns of their students and staff. They feel that it is possible for professors to teach up to a fifth of their courses online and take virtual classes of 200 students or more. Students from the school of social work, who have already returned to campus on January 24, went on strike because of being called back too soon. They are worried about the increasing cases of Omicron and don’t think that it is a good time to resume the normal sessions with so many students. The students in the law and arts faculty are also considering boycotting in-person classes.
Simon Fraser University resumed classes on January 24, to which about 40 students staged a protest by marching to the Canadian universities’ administrative building to get attention. Catherine Dauvergne, the university’s provost said that she recognizes the anxiety and concerns of people because of this pandemic but still stresses the importance of physical classes by saying “There is a unique and irreplaceable value to in-person learning”. She added that students have their options if they are unwilling to attend classes on campus. The University of British Columbia will be returning on February 7.
Memorial and Dalhousie University, the Canadian Universities on the East Coast, are both heading back on January 31, even though their students and staff believe that doing so would be unsafe. On the other hand, the University of Prince Edward Island has extended remote learning classes and plans to return to campus on February 27.
Thus, it was a major cause for frustration among the students, parents as well as the staff of many Canadian universities. With the rising threat of the Omicron variant, people still have safety concerns. Even though many students silently favour these decisions, many are still unsure about resuming in-person classes because of the current situation of rising omicron cases.
