NDP calls for emergency school safety plan as violence in schools rises by 77 per cent

OTTAWA – Shadow Minister for Education Chandra Pasma (Ottawa West – Nepean) issued the following statement in response to an FOI obtained by Global News revealing that violence in schools rose by 77 per cent since the Ford Government was elected in 2018, with more than 4,400 incidents reported last year.

“The numbers tell a clear story: we are seeing a crisis of violence develop as our children's needs go unmet at school. Unfortunately, this is only the tip of the iceberg as many incidents go unreported,” said MPP Pasma.

“Our kids are bearing the brunt of Doug Ford’s cuts to education, from larger class size to fewer EAs and support staff, to the lack of mental health professionals, and less supports for special needs students. Our education workers and teachers shouldn’t have to put up with injuries as a routine part of the job.

“The Premier has been busy listening to his developer friends about moving highways and building fantasy tunnels, but it’s about time he listens to concerned parents who just want their kids to be safe at school. We have the solutions, the Government just needs to act – it must hire more qualified staff in classrooms so our kids have a safe place to learn.”

The Ontario NDP announced its Emergency Plan to End School Violence and is calling on the Ford Government to implement it. The plan includes:

• Funding to hire additional qualified staff, including mental health professionals, education assistants, child and youth workers, and other education workers.
• Funding for comprehensive training for all workers and supervisors.
• A sector-specific regulation for education under the Occupational Health and Safety Act.
• A permanent provincial health and safety working group to review and adapt current policies regarding workplace violence in the education sector.
• A single province-wide online reporting system for violent incidents and data collection to understand the full scope of the problem.