Calgary students took part in a provincewide school walkout Thursday in response to the outcome of the Alberta teachers’ strike.
Alberta Students for Teachers is a group that worked to organize walkouts at high schools across the city. Organizer Arya Mishra told the Calgary Eyeopener she sees the protest as an opportunity for students to have their voices heard.
“Politicians and many folk are saying things that are supposedly coming from students,” said Mishra, a Grade 12 student at William Aberhart High School. “I have yet to see many students really repeat those same statements.”
Calgary Eyeopener9:11Student walkouts in support of teachers
Students are ditching class in support of teachers today. We talk to a couple organizers about the plan, and the message they want to send to the province.
Students returned to school Wednesday following the provincial government’s tabling of back-to-work legislation for striking teachers on Monday, which included the province invoking the notwithstanding clause.
Bill 2, or the Back to School Act, marked the end of job action that saw more than 50,000 members of the Alberta Teachers’ Association go on strike over three weeks ago.
Mishra said she and fellow protesters want to make it clear that they stand with teachers. Many of those students protested outside their schools, while students at Western Canada and St. Mary’s High School went to city hall in downtown Calgary.
“We understand why the strike happened,” she said. “We want classroom caps, and we want January diplomas to be optional.”
An online petition calling for Alberta’s January 2026 diploma exams to be made optional in light of the strike currently has more than 27,000 signatures. The province announced that November diploma exams for Grade 12 students would be optional about two weeks into the strike.
“Now, because of the back-to-work legislation, we are back to school, and no changes have been made,” said Mishra. “That is frustrating to students.”
Fellow Alberta Students for Teachers organizer Vaishnavi Venkateshwaran is a Grade 12 student at Sir Winston Churchill High School. She says she’s motivated to protest because she considers the province’s back-to-work legislation a violation of constitutional rights.
“No matter what your political affiliation is … we have a duty to stand up for those rights,” she said. “If we take this lying down, it’s a precedent that we will take this lying down for anything in the future.”
“As a Grade 12 student and as a future voter myself, I have a duty to be educated, and I have a duty to fight for what I believe in,” she said. “I think that’s something that a lot of students really feel the same way.”
Students across southern Alberta join walkout
Outside of Calgary, students across southern Alberta took part in the provincewide walkout.
In Canmore, about 120 students walked out of Canmore Collegiate High School Thursday.
Lethbridge Collegiate Institute Grade 11 student Mairi Webb was one of about 50 students who took part in that school’s walkout.
She said taking part in the walkout was an opportunity for students outside the province’s major centres to be part of the conversation.
“It may not matter to Danielle Smith herself, but I think it’ll show the public … how important teachers’ rights are to us,” Webb said.
Fellow Grade 11 student Rose McNee said if actions like this walkout don’t make a difference, “I’m going bigger.”
Minister, school boards say students should stay in class
In an emailed statement, Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides said “students have a variety of ways they can express themselves, and we will always respect their right to peacefully assemble and protest. However, it is important for them to be in class, and not disrupt their own learning or that of others.”
The Calgary Board of Education (CBE) and Calgary Catholic School District (CCSD) acknowledged protests would be taking place Thursday, but stressed that they were not supporting the walkouts.
“It is a regular school day and students are expected to be in class unless excused by a parent or guardian,” the CBE said. “The top priority for schools this week is reconnecting with students and ensuring a smooth transition back to learning.”
The Catholic school board said protesting does not meet the criteria for an excused absence under the provincial Education Act.
“Students who participate will not be supervised by teachers or administrators,” the CCSD said. “Any student’s participation in this event will result in an unexcused absence.”
The CBE said it would also mark any missed classes due to the walkout as unexcused absences.
