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About 275,000 students will have the day off on Wednesday as their teachers hold a one-day strike to protest against proposed changes to class sizes and support for students with learning difficulties. About 34,000 teachers who work in French public schools in Montreal and Laval are also protesting against proposed changes to their contract, including increasing their work week from 32 to 35 hours.

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Francophone teachers say they also want work schedules reorganized so they can spend more time with students with difficulties and less time on committees or monitoring students in the hallway.

“We want to put our energy in the classroom helping the students,” said Sylvain Mallette, president of the Fédération autonome de l’enseignement (FAE), “Some teachers want to give two periods of tutoring every nine days, but the principal tells them they can only offer one because she needs the teacher to monitor the hallway at lunch or sit on a committee.”