Thousands of teachers are striking across Saskatchewan Monday, and students in Saskatoon rose to the occasion to support their instructors.
A student strike was held outside Centre Mall in Saskatoon to support teachers, with rows of students, parents and teachers joining together.
“We’re kind of here because we’re losing a teacher at (Evan Hardy Collegiate) that’s very valuable and just a staple at our school,” Katia Pletneva said.
She said losing this teacher has been a wake-up call for some of the students at the school.
“At this point, our class sizes are, like, 30 and up, and there’s just no space to breathe. There’s not enough one-on-one attention for students and it’s just getting really hard to learn.”
The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation (STF) and the government of Saskatchewan have been butting heads over a new bargaining agreement for several months now, with neither side willing to budge.
The STF made its asking package highlights public, with a salary ask of a two per cent increase annually plus the consumer price index average annual rate in Saskatchewan for each of the next four years.
A proposal around classroom size and complexity, a point the provincial government has said it is not willing to budge on, is asking for an evidence-based plan to address the increase in students, the increase in complex needs and the lack of resources to support learning.
Education Minister Jeremy Cockrill said issues around class sizes are best dealt with by local school divisions as each division is likely to have its own issues.
“That is a line in the sand for government that we’re not going to be moving on,” Cockrill said last week.
He claimed that what the teachers are asking for is taking that decision away from school divisions.
“We have 27 locally elected school boards for a reason. If we’re going to put management issues like classroom size and complexity in a bargaining agreement, why have school boards?”
Cockrill admitted that there were challenges in classrooms across the province but said there needs to be local school board autonomy.
Other proposals in the asking package involve professional autonomy for teachers, violence-free classrooms, a minimum salary and some rights for substitute teachers, support for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and some additional benefits.
“I’m here to support my local school because I’m not getting the education I need,” Gracie Weiman said.
“I have ADHD and I have to wait a whole class period to get one teacher to talk to me about one simple question.”
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