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Thousands of school students across Australia will be able to skip school on Friday and strike for climate action, backed by a “sick note” signed by “climate doctors”.
Friday’s strike will be the 11th nationwide strike, as School Strike 4 Climate enters its fifth year. There will be protest action at nine locations across the country.
Students have been provided with a certificate pre-signed by climate doctors, which they can present to schools to explain their absence.
“The climate doctors certificate signed by three leading climate scientists is so that protesters like us can feel a little more confident joining in the protests,” said Joey Thomson, 16, one of the organisers of the Melbourne strike.
“It gives us a way to formally, I guess, be out of school so that we don’t get punished for protesting – it’s like a sick note.”
The sick note can be personalised for each student. It states they are “unfit due to a major climate health concern” and are experiencing symptoms of “increased anxiety”, “elevated stress” and “feelings of despair” on seeing the impacts of the climate emergency in the world.
“We’ve got dangerous climate disasters happening all around us right now – floods, bushfires and so I feel like we have to organise and we have to come together as young people and as communities to shift the power away from fossil fuels if we want a liveable future,” he said.
One of the professors, who signed the “innovative sick planet certificate” has compared the climate strike to an excursion or a field trip, which provide students with an opportunity to learn in a more hands-on approach.
“It’s a good way for students to learn about politics and democracy in action,” Dr David Karoly from the University of Melbourne said.
“It (the note) gives them (students) a piece of paper to show to the school. To show that they’re not actually wagging school to spend time at home. They’re taking a day from normal educational activities to gain additional experience in a school student organised activity.”
The letter signed by Dr David Karoly, Dr Nick Abel and Dr Lesley Hughes concludes: “It is my recommendation that they (the students) take a sick day to protest for a sick planet.
The Minister of Education Jason Clarke has said school students should not be attending the strike.
“I want our kids to be passionate, I want our kids to care about democracy and I want our kids to care about the future, but I also want our kids at school,” he said.
Education departments across NSW and Victoria have also said the sick note will not be accepted at schools.
“It is not a legitimate medical certificate and would not be accepted by schools,” spokesperson for the NSW Department of Education said.
“Students should be in class during a regular school day.”
The response has disappointed the climate strike organisers, as they believe the government “needs to get on board and support students”.
“That’s not gonna stop us. The fact that they’re not accepting it is not gonna stop us from coming out on the streets together to demand change from those in power,” Mr Thompson said.
Dr Karoly hopes some teachers will see tomorrow’s climate strike as a learning experience, urging students to attend.
“I think in some schools there will be teachers organising excursions and this has happened in the past,” he said.
“In 2019, there were schools that were encouraging their students to participate and there were groups of students going from schools as a learning experience.”
The strike is planned to occur in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Taree, Byron Bay and Noosa.
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