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Ontario Education Minister Stephen Lecce appears to have made a concession on a major issue for public elementary teachers who are staging strikes all week.

Lecce says the province will maintain Ontario’s full-day kindergarten program, and he’s put that in writing.

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But the promise doesn’t look like it’s helped to move the dial in bargaining with the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario (ETFO).

The elementary teachers plan targeted one-day strikes all week and a provincewide walkout on Thursday.

ETFO is just one of four education unions staging job actions as the turmoil in Ontario’s schools intensifies.

Hundreds of thousands of students will be out of class this week due to rotating strikes if there is no breakthrough in bargaining. Field trips and extracurricular activities are also being cancelled as teachers engage in work slowdowns.

There was no good news Monday from a day-long bargaining session with the province’s English Catholic board teachers, either. That union announced that no deal had been reached and it would go ahead with a provincewide walkout Tuesday.