Student enrolment is on the rise in Saskatchewan, and the number of newly employed teachers is not keeping up.
That’s from Opposition Leader Carla Beck, as she stood among a sea of concerned teachers during their second round of rotating strikes.
“The year before Scott Moe took office, there were 9,477 classroom teachers in Saskatchewan schools. This year, there were 9,478. That’s one extra teacher,” she stated.
Meanwhile, in the same time frame, the province has gained 15,254 students. Beck says upon reading that statistic, she had it checked, and rechecked, as she couldn’t believe her eyes.
“Adding only one teacher in a province for over 15,000 additional students, that tells you everything you need to know about how much Scott Moe and his government value education.” Beck says instead of getting to the bargaining table to fight for education, the provincial government chose to install disrespectful billboards with taxpayer dollars.
She says these students have been confined to learning in boot rooms, computer labs, and art rooms in recent years, as there simply isn’t enough classroom space. At this rate, she says students cannot afford four additional years under the Scott Moe government.
She believes the government has a responsibility to get to the table and listen to all of teachers’ concerns, including class complexity. She adds that the government is being willfully ignorant, as they know what the issues are, they just refuse to care.
According to the same set of numbers, in the last 8 years, Saskatchewan schools have a total of 7 less social workers, 3.5 less occupational therapists, 27.1 less counsellors, 11 less psychologists, and 7 less speech language pathologists.
Her advice to kids, parents, and teachers is to hold on, as change is coming.
Samantha Becotte, STF President, says these numbers “further validate what teachers, students and parents are saying about the reality of today’s classrooms. Students deserve better than this. Short-changing tomorrow’s workforce is extremely short-sighted, but Government can choose to fix these issues. It starts by addressing class size and complexity and guaranteeing long-term, sustainable education funding.”
The STF continues to encourage parents, students, businesses and community members to contact their local MLA, the Minister of Education, Premier Moe and their locally elected school board trustees and ask them to return to the bargaining table to engage in negotiations.
