SHAFAQNA (Shia International News Association) — It's back to school season for more Quebec students as three Montreal colleges voted to end the student strike and resume classes on Thursday.
College Bois-de-Boulogne, de Rosemont and Ahuntsic will all see students return as early as next week.
General assemblies showed positive turnouts. Students at Bois-de-Boulogne voted 493 against 23 to squash the strike. In Rosemont and Ahuntsic, students offered similar results.
Meanwhile, students at Lionel-Groulx, Montmorency and Saint-Jérôme colleges were back in their seats on Thursday morning, two days after announcing their return to class.
According to the more militant student association CLASSE, nearly 150 associations in 12 different universities had mandates for an unlimited general strike even after the adoption of special law Bill 78 last May.
Student associations in seven faculties supported the student strike. Among them were social sciences students at UQAM and social services students at Université de Montréal along with graduate students in Université de Sherbrooke's communications department — excluding the students on the Longueuil campus.
Nearly 10,000 students in associations connected to the CLASSE have voted to continue boycotting classes since the election writ dropped two weeks ago.
The university start-date is set for August 27, but many general assemblies have yet to vote.
Strike on August 22
Though students at College de Rosemont decided to return to class, the president of the student association said its members would be striking on the 22nd of every month.
Students at College de Valleyfield will vote next Tuesday on whether they will be skipping classes to protest on August 22. Students in Ahuntsic are also expected to hold a similar vote.
Majority of Quebec students back in class
Among the 11 college associations that have held general assemblies, only College du Vieux Montréal and COLLEGE de Saint-Laurent have opted to continue the student boycott, but new votes could change the original results when the schools hold a second voting assembly.
COLLEGE André-Laurendeau, College de Maisonneuve, COLLEGE Marie-Victorin, College de Valleyfield, College Édouard-Montpetit, College Lionel-Groulx and College Montmorency have all voted against the strike.
Students at College de Saint-Jérôme and College Saint-Hyacinthe have agreed to go back to class at least until the provincial election date on Sept. 4 and hold another general assembly after the election.—www.shafaqna.com/english
