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Thanks to strikes, some Ontario students won't have final exams

Fred Hahn, president of CUPE, Ontario speaks to high school teachers and their supporters on May 14.
Fred Hahn, president of CUPE, Ontario speaks to high school teachers and their supporters on May 14.

Students at three Ontario school boards are getting an early summer break this year: final exams have been cancelled.

Classes resumed in the Rainbow, Peel and Durham districts on Wednesday after teacher strikes were ruled illegal earlier in the week. Athough the unions are threatening to be back on strike in June 10, the Ontario government is promising back-to-work legislation this week that would prevent those strikes.

With teachers back at work, the question turned to what will be required of the returning students. The answer, in a nutshell: not much. The provincial government said final exams have been cancelled; the students will be graded instead on their schoolwork throughout the semester.

Students were also told before the strikes began that they weren’t expected to work on any class assignments or projects while the strike was in effect.  There’s now a one-week moratorium =on any assignments or assessments, meaning students won’t have to hand anything in until early June – three weeks before school ends.

A Peel board spokesperson told CFRB 1010 that 70-75 per cent of its classes usually wrap up with exams.