Saskatoon students skip class Tuesday to protest in support of teachers

Saskatoon high school students walked out of class on Tuesday to show their support for teachers in their contract dispute with the provincial government.

At 12:15 p.m., students from Saskatoon Public School and Greater Saskatoon Catholic School divisions gathered in protest outside of Sask. Party MLA Don Morgan’s office.

“I hope this impacts our government and tells them that we really care about our education,” said Grade 12 student Kunj Patel.

The Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation and the province have been at an impasse for months over contract negotiations surrounding classroom size and complexity issues.

Teachers have cut extracurriculars around the province, removed noon-hour supervision and participated in one-day strikes on rotation in an attempt to sway the government to agree to binding arbitration.

Patel said he and his classmates support the teachers.

“We care about our education. We care about our teachers. We want more funding in our school.”

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He said due to classroom size increases, field trips have been cut due to a lack of funding.

“Teachers cannot help every single student,” Patel said. “Our learning is really being impacted by this. This is necessary for the future of the city.”

Student Abbie Shynkaruk said she wants the government to return to the bargaining table.

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“Lots of kids are missing out on clubs, extracurricular sports. I’m part of SRC and we haven’t been able to do a lot of our fun events because of this.”

She said missing out on two periods of class Tuesday is worth it to try to keep the government at the bargaining table.

TK Agbi, a Grade 12 student said teacher strike days causes students to fall behind, dangerously close to graduation.

The strikes and the pulling of after school activities have also delayed all graduation preparations for senior students.

“Our class isn’t going to get to graduate,” Agbi said. “But we can miss one class, if it means everyone will get a fair education.”