COMMON SCHOOL SYSTEM: DO WE HAVE AN OPTION?
- Prof. Anil Sadgopal 1n October 1997, as I walked out of the international airport of Toronto (Ontario, Canada), my eyes caught the newspaper headlines announcing “State-wide School Teachers’ Strike’. Coming from India, this was nothing unusual. However, the next headline puzzled me. It read: “Joint Rally of Teachers and Parents.” It made no sense at all. How can the teachers and the parents join hands in a protest? In India, parents would be furious if teachers go on strike but here they were marching and shouting slogans together. The protest was so massive that the entire state of Ontario came to a standstill for the next seven days. It was a common political issue for all. The faculty and the students of the University of Toronto extended full support. Seminars and sit-ins were held at the university campus, addressed by the leadership of the unions of school and university teachers alike and supported by student organizations and parent groups. I was amazed at this soli...