Saskatchewan residents discuss potential impacts of delayed education negotiations

As the second day of education strikes in Saskatchewan looms, residents are raising concerns about how long delays could impact them.

Val Cavers is a grandparent to a few students in the city, who she looks after during the strikes while their parents work. She echoed the frustration of elongated negotiations and said teachers and the province need to settle in the best interests of the students.

“We want to see the class sizes smaller we want to see our kids getting the education that they need to go on and go into good jobs in the future,” Cavers said.

Lily Duffield, a Regina high school student, said that classroom complexity makes getting extra help a frustrating experience.

“There’s lots of kids in classes so it’s like teachers have a hard time getting to every student,” she said.

Children who have learning or mental disabilities are usually the most affected by the lack of resources, according to child psychologist Tamara Hinz.

“That chronic frustration does lead to not only behavioural and mental health symptoms but also can lead to decreases in motivation to attend school,” said Hinz.

She said the long-term mental health effects are more concerning than short-term classroom disruptions.

“It’s really important that at the end of the day, everybody comes together to make sure that students are well supported in their learning environments because at the end of the day that is certainly going to play a much bigger role in children’s long-term mental health,” she said.