BC student reps want right to choose online or in-person learning
As university and college students prepare for a full return to campus, student reps are calling for the public health guidance to change.
On Friday, January 21, ten organizations – collectively representing more than 112,000 post-secondary students across the province – signed a joint letter calling for a change to the on-campus learning guidelines for post-secondary institutions.
The signees say they’re calling for the Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Anne Kang, Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Training, to make it make remote learning options available.
They say it’s up to students to choose whether they attend class in-person or online as BC is in the midst of the COVID-19 Omicron wave.
“As many students in this province are set to return to campus for in-person learning, the extraordinary spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant represents a real and continued threat to the safety of post-secondary students and staff, specifically those who are immunocompromised,” reads the letter.
BREAKING: Organizations representing 112,000+ students urge PHO, AEST to recommend remote learning options as Omicron surges.
Read the letter: https://t.co/BsGmQtcPuU@ubcgss @KSAcouncil @CapStudentUnion @LangaraSU @UFVSUS @SFSS1 @NUGSS_UNBC @rrustudents @UVIC_GSS @students_bc pic.twitter.com/7xjzQUpUQX
— Alliance of BC Students (@students_bc) January 22, 2022
The letter states that since the guidelines for a return to in-person learning were drafted in mid-December, they are no longer appropriate given how “the COVID-19 situation in BC has drastically changed.”
Students are calling for an approach that maximizes hybrid learning capabilities to allow students to attend classes online or in-person according to their own needs.
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Signees of the letter include:
- Alliance of BC Students
- Capilano Students’ Union
- Langara Students’ Union
- Kwantlen Student Association
- UFV Student Union Society
- UBC Graduate Student Society
- Simon Fraser Student Society
- Royal Roads University Student Association
- Northern Undergraduate Student Society
- UVic Graduate Students Society
Post-secondary students at Douglas College, BCIT, Langara, and others had been petitioning for a delayed return to class during the Omicron wave.