By Rori Bennett – Junior Reporter
An estimated 200,000 students across Ontario, walked out of their schools on Thursday, April 4 at 1:15 p.m.
Hundreds of those students were from Chatham-Kent.
Students were protesting to make the Provincial Government aware that students knew the situations around the cutting and changing of funding, to education in Ontario.
The students wanted to express their displeasure and frustration and how the cuts would directly impact their futures.
The idea for the protest/walkout were started by a senior high school student in Listowel, Ontario.
One of the largest concerns expressed by many of the students at Ursuline College in Chatham (UCC), was that the proposed cuts to OSAP funding would prevent them from attending a post-secondary institution.
“I am doing this walkout, because I want to be a teacher when I grow up and if they continue to cut jobs, then that career will not work for me,” said Elizabeth, a Grade 10 student at UCC, who asked the newspaper to only publish her first name.
“Also, I cannot do any online courses. I hate the idea of being forced to do them.”
Other concerns expressed by students across the province, included: cutting teacher jobs, eliminating funding for autism students, four mandatory e-learning courses, increased class sizes from 22 to 28 students at the highschool level and increasing the class sizes from 23 to 24.5 for elementary school students.
“I chose to do the walkout, simply to help stop education cuts,” Laura Griffith, a Grade 9 student at UCC, told the Sydenham Current.
More information on these protest can be found on the ‘Students Say No’ Facebook, and Instagram pages.
A similar walkout took place in Wallaceburg as well.
Here are some more photos from the protest at UCC:
Meanwhile, the Conservative Government insists the changes they have made will improve education across the province.
“Families need peace of mind knowing that their government is putting students and families first,” said Lisa Thompson, Minister of Education, in a press release.
“That’s why it’s so important that these changes received Royal Assent (last) week. These changes will improve student safety and ensure that every student will have the support they need to be successful in school.”
Government officials say Bill 48, the Safe and Supportive Classrooms Act, 2019, received Royal Assent on Wednesday. This act amends the Ontario College of Teachers Act, 1996 (OCTA), as well as the Early Childhood Educators Act, 2007 (ECEA), the Teaching Profession Act (TPA), and the Education Act.
These legislative amendments will:
– Require the Discipline Committees of the Ontario College of Teachers (OCT) and College of Early Childhood Educators (CECE) to revoke a member’s certificate of registration for any act of “sexual abuse” of a student or child, as defined in the acts that govern the Colleges and their members
– Provide regulation-making authority for the Lieutenant Governor in Council to prescribe other acts of a sexual nature that are prohibited under the federal Criminal Code that must result in the mandatory revocation of a regulated educator’s certificate of registration if the member is found guilty of such an act by the Colleges’ Discipline Committees
– Help families experience a more consistent, fair and transparent process when requesting that their child be accompanied by a service animal in a publicly funded school in Ontario
– Allow for changes to be made to the size and composition of the OCT’s Council
– Dissolve the Public Interest Committee of the OCT
– Make a new requirement for registering with the OCT that involves the successful completion of a math content knowledge test
– Provide authority for the minister to issue policies on service animals in school to provide school boards with guidance when developing their own policies on service animals.
The Ministry of Education has also launched its consultation on service animals. Through an online survey, students, families, school boards and community partners have an opportunity to provide input on the draft policy directive, which is intended to help school boards manage how service animals are used in Ontario’s publicly funded schools.
“We are putting our province on a path back to balance so that we can protect the core services that matter most – like education – while restoring fiscal sustainability to the people of Ontario,” added Minister Thompson in a press release. “We will continue to focus on keeping our promises to the people.”
