Students stage walkout in support of Sask. teachers amid stalled contract talks

A large group of students marched on the legislative building in Regina on Friday in support of teachers.

The demonstration came as contract talks between the government and teachers remain stalled.

“I think it’s important because teachers need to be more understood in these days. Classrooms are definitely filling up more than they should be,” said Jaylee Babey.

Some students say classes have become too large to get quality education.

“If you have a question and you can’t get all your questions answered, you might not be able to do the work properly which then leads you to not doing great on tests,” said Caden Manz.

Teachers have staged two one-day strikes and most recently, walkouts in selected communities. The student march at the legislative building included a handful of parents and grandparents.

“They put two classrooms together at lunch time and there’s not enough places for the kids to sit. She ends up sitting on the floor a lot of the time eating lunch. I don’t get it. I don’t get it why there’s no money to support the schools,” said Jean Weimer, a grandparent.

Dave Coleman says things have become worse in the classroom since he retired from teaching.

“Talk to my old staff and they were always saying you got out at the right time,” he said.

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It has Hailey MacDonald questioning whether she wants to pursue her aspiration to become a teacher.

“I’ve reconsidered if I want to go into the education program because of this, because teachers keep talking about how difficult it is and like, some teachers have left so it’s definitely making me question if I even want to do this anymore,” she said.

Government MLAs have responded with a social media campaign that claims teachers are demanding a 23 per cent salary increase.

Teachers dispute the government’s calculations on salary demands. The government said it remains at the bargaining table but teachers insist that classroom size and complexity be up for discussion. No further talks are scheduled.