An online petition set up asking the province to reconsider their 'back to school' plan has garnered quite a bit of attention in the last few days.

As of Monday morning, over 16,000 people have signed the petition, with part of its description reading "The Minister’s decision to start the school year 'as close to normal as possible' doesn’t appear to be grounded in the reality of the world’s worst health emergency in over 100 years. "

You can view the petition, and sign it if you choose, by clicking here. 

Concerned Citizen Andrea M.

"People have lots of concerns about the back to school plan, specifically that the plan only reacts to COVID outbreaks after they have taken hold rather than doing the easy thing to actually prevent outbreaks. Another concern is that 30 kids in a small classroom without the ability to social distance is a recipe for disaster."

Other concerns according to Andrea include:

  • no reduction in class size
  • no dedicated funding for reopening school during the COVID pandemic
  • no mandatory mask policies
  • no onsite COVID testing
  • teachers are expected to manage and teach the students as well as clean all while not getting COVID

An additional concern is a movement between levels of the province's plan as Andrea explains.

"And there is a big concern for lack of triggers for when to move from one level of the provinces plan to another. What I am hearing from people is that this is the worst back to school plan in Canada and we can do better."

A number of rallies took place across Saskatchewan ton Friday as well, with people setting up peaceful protests in front of local MLA offices. 

Those who were unable to attend the demonstration can still participate by taking a photo of themselves wearing a mask and sharing the photo on social media with the hashtag #masks4sasked

If you would like to view the government of Saskatchewan's complete 'Back to School' plan, you can click here.

Each school division has also released their individual plans. You can view Holy Trinity Catholic School Division's by clicking here, and Prairie South School Division's by clicking here.