Students are not happy about Premier Doug Ford’s plan for the education system in Ontario and will hold a province-wide student walk out to that effect.
The walkout is set for today at 1:15pm. Over 600 schools have already signed up for the Students Say No movement.
Founder Natalie Moore, a grade 12 student from Listowel, says youth will be protesting increasing class sizes, teacher cuts and mandatory online courses. She says the class sizes are just an average so you could have classes with 40 people, which could lower student success. Moore says students won’t get adequate feedback from teachers or one-on-one time to understand course material.
Students from the six local secondary schools will participate in the walkout. Student representatives from each school have co-authored a letter to be signed by the students protesting class size, teacher job cuts, funding cuts, and changes to Indigenous content. The letter, including student signatures, will be delivered to MPP Vic Fedeli.
Local students will demonstrate on school property until 2:30pm with walkout organizers citing OSAP changes, cuts to Ontario’s autism program and to specialized programming, as well as the scrapped francophone initiative by the Ford government as protest points.
The Students Say No movement began on March 19 to raise awareness about education changes. Moore says the movement’s social media accounts saw tens of thousands of views within the first 12 hours.
Moore says kids definitely understand the importance of balancing the books but don’t think it should come at the cost of Ontario’s world-class education system.
For more information see StudentsSayNo on Facebook or Instagram.
With files from Jennifer Westendorp, Vista Radio
