By Katelyn Basso & Jessica Awad
A recent announcement to changes and cuts in the Ontario Education has caused many provincial-wide protests within the last month. Premier Doug Ford has so far stated that they plan to increase the average class size from 22 to 28 students, which will directly affect an estimated 5,500 teachers across the province. Many different programs, such as the arts, will see significant cuts, whereas the major programs, such as the maths and sciences will see major increases in class sizes but still have the same teaching material. When hiring teachers, seniority will now be focused on rather than specific skills or previous performance. Many changes will be made in the schools themselves. Some of the programs that are facing change include: the sexual education curriculum, math programs, and First Nations Studies curriculum. The new curriculum for sexual education will be the 1998 version, rather than the 2015 version. Gender identity and consent will still be taught, but at an older age (grade 8 instead of grade 2). Math programs will be changed to focus only on “fundamentals” than the previous “discovery math”, which was introduced by the liberal party, will no longer be used. Students will also receive a new curriculum for First Nations Peoples studies, which the government collaborated on with some indigenous partners. Ford also announced that four (4) of the mandatory courses for students to graduate secondary school will now be required to be completed online. Finally, cell phones will be banned from classrooms during instructional time starting next school year (2019-2020). All of these changes have sparked protests all through the province, including two (2) here at Cameron Heights. The first protest was held on March 20, 2019, lead and organized by Cameron's very own Mia Kulafi, was a very successful first step. She says “It is a super important cause and I thought that many people felt the same way I did and something had to be done. Most of us are under 18 and can’t vote but are still affected so we had to make our voices heard and I thought that was a good way to get started.”. An Instagram account was created (@chciprotest) for the protest and gained many supporters and promoters throughout the school. It is estimated that approximately 50 students attended the first protest, however, it seems that many more are interested now and want to participate. When asked if there is anything that students can do if they can't come to the protests, Mia says “For sure! Sign an ongoing petition, as well as [some] help[ed] make posters and just bring awareness to the cause.”. “I’m proud that they are contributing to important events going on in our community. I’m glad that they are taking it upon themselves to further educate themselves and understand that we need to do something.” The second protest, on April 4th, was held as a provincial-wide school walkout. Each secondary school created social media accounts to discuss routes and a plan for the day. Cameron Height’s walkout was led by the incredible: Anna Winge-Breen and Jade Jones. Within 24 hours of creating the social media account, for the Cameron Heights walkout, it had 200 followers. Students then walked together to Kitchener City Hall to voice their concerns. This was then an opportunity for students to make empowering speeches and reveal their creative posters (which you can view through our website’s gallery!) . This walkout held a different meaning for everyone, due to the large number of cuts to be implemented. For a majority of students, the cuts would affect their ability to pay for university. For others, their passions (such as arts) will no longer have the needed amount of resources. Students with various learning needs (such as IEP) will now be learning in a classroom that does not suit their needs. This Curriculum change affects us ALL, in one way or another, and it will affect future generations as well. “Education is an Investment, not a cost.” - Anna Winge-Breen Learn more information about the changes being made here and make your voice heard by signing this petition. All photo's are credit to Clara Ackley (@clarackleyphotography)
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December 2019
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