October 5 is proclaimed World Teachers Day, and on its eve, Saskatchewan NDP candidate Carla Beck sounded an alarm about the situation in Saskatchewan schools during the COVID pandemic. Beck served as Opposition Critic for Education in the last legislative sitting. Her criticism was levelled at the Sask Party’s resourcing of schools and is based on the results of a recently tabulated survey of teachers completed by the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation. The criticism was broadcast in a release by Saskatchewan New Democrats.

“Years of Sask. Party cuts left schools in a place where they couldn’t manage by themselves, and now Scott Moe is still refusing to put our kids first,” said Carla Beck, candidate for Regina Lakeview. “Cuts to education are a bad idea anytime – now, they’re downright dangerous.” 

The release states that the survey was done at the request of Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. Saqib Shahab, and the resulting report was shared with the Saskatchewan Health Authority.

In the report, 89 percent of responding teachers stated that they could not maintain two-metre distancing between students because of class size and physical building constraints. Twenty-two percent responded that they had insufficient or no access to PPE because they had run out or had not received any. Finally, 42 percent stated that they teach more than 30 students in a class per day. 

Acknowledging that October 5 is World Teacher Day, the release went on to reiterate the day’s value of honouring and supporting teachers everyday. Beck echoed the NDP campaign promise to provide additional funding for schools should they form government. 

“Underfunding over the last few years has led to crowded classrooms, and now schools are struggling to maintain a two-metre distance, making our kids less safe,” said Beck. “We can’t ignore these issues in our schools, and we need to invest in classrooms and support teachers so that our kids can learn safely.”