Canada: Ontario students protest against education changes, stage walkout
Toronto, Apr 5 (Xinhua): Thousands of students across Canada's Ontario province walked out of their classrooms on Thursday in protest of the provincial government's changes to education, according to CTV.
This Ontario province-wide walkout was organized by students on social media, with the hashtag #StudentsSayNo, to protest against the Ontario provincial government's education reforms, which include an increase in high school class sizes, the loss of 18,000 teaching jobs, e-learning courses, revamping the health and physical education curriculum and funding cuts.
More than 700 schools signed up to take part in the mass protest organized by the student group, March for our Education. The protest action came weeks after Ontario's government announced its considerable and controversial education reforms.
During question period at the Ontario legislature on Thursday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford blamed the influence of teachers and unions for the mass protest.
The premier claimed the walkout was driven by unions that are looking to secure better contracts for teachers ahead of their collective bargaining agreement expiring this summer.
"This isn't about class size, I'll tell you. This is about the union bosses telling the teachers and the students what to do," Ford said.
"It's absolutely shameful they're using our students for a bunch of pawns," Ford added.
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