The Manitoba Teachers’ Society is putting the effect of poverty on education front and centre in its submission to the provincial government’s K-12 Education Review.
A call for a universal meal program for public school students in kindergarten to Grade 12 is one of 17 recommendations made by the union, which represents 16,000 public school educators.
“Hungry kids aren’t focused on schoolwork; they’re focused on hunger pangs,” said Norm Gould, president of the Manitoba Teachers’ Society, in a news release. Gould also said they’re hearing from teachers who say the number of kids coming to school hungry is rising.
The union said Manitoba’s high child poverty rate, particularly among Indigenous communities, is a factor and a meal program would reduce barriers to education.
A 2018 report comparing child poverty rates in federal ridings found Manitoba had two of the worst five in Canada – in Churchill-Keewatinook Aski, the rate was 64.2 per cent, and in Winnipeg Centre it was 41.1 per cent.
“We recognize that the issue of poverty extends beyond meal programs, but we have to start somewhere,” said Gould.
Other measures recommended to address the impact of poverty on students are a government-funded pilot project offering bus tokens to students and a task-force.
Union wants class size cap brought back
The submission also includes a call for a cap on class sizes for students in kindergarten to Grade 3 that was scrapped by the Pallister government to be reinstated, and for the composition of the class to be taken into account when determining size. That means accounting for students who have special learning needs, such as disabled students, gifted learners or those being taught in French or English as an additional language.
The union is also recommending curriculum updates, improved wait times for assessing students with learning disabilities, more education and increased supports for the mental health of students and the development of uniform teaching standards.
The submission also includes recommendations based on the Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and strategies for improving French-language education.
Read the full submission here:
