The clock is ticking for an educational support system in the province.
The Manitoba Curriculum Support Centre will close its doors at the end of the month.
A group of concerned teachers held a rally late Wednesday afternoon to protest the decision.
"As a student teacher it was essential to have this library," said first year teacher Sarah Putnam.
The Manitoba Curriculum Support Centre is a library for teachers. More than just books, it has things such as sheet music, fine art prints and educational board games teachers can use in their classes.
"Teachers all over the province use the resources from this library to enrich what they do in their classroom," said rally organizer Gabriel Hurley.
"We can't always teach out of the textbook. We need a richness of materials to bring our subjects to life. And that's what the education library offers."
However Education Minister Kelvin Goertzen says the support centre isn't terribly busy.
"There wasn't much reliance on the actual facility," said Goertzen.
"There was about 14 people I'm told who would walk into the facility a day. And they had 21 staff."
He believes there's a more efficient way to deliver the service.
"Every other province has gone to having online resources," said Goertzen. "We're going to be doing more online resources. There will be access to 2000 audio books, and other aids. There will be 250 lesson plans that can be directly streamed into classrooms."
All support centre staff are being moved within Manitoba Education and Training.
And while formats for visually-impaired students will stay in the current building, Goertzen says the rest of the physical material will be distributed around the educational system, and be made available upon request.
Still, Sarah Putnam says it won't be the same.
"It takes away from children’s learning."
