Thousands of school pupils are expected to take to the streets today in a ‘strike’ from classes to protest against climate change.
The strikes will protest against the so-called inaction of governments and corporations in the face of a ‘climate crisis’.
The students will call on governments to reduce carbon emissions in line with caps decided in the Paris Climate Agreement, which comes into force next year.
A second strike, coordinated across Europe, will take place next month.
The ‘Youth Strike 4 Climate’ movement was inspired by the campaigning of Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old student from Sweden.
Thunberg stopped attending school on Fridays, using the day to picket outside the Swedish parliament and lobby for legislation limiting carbon emissions. The Scottish Greens have published an open letter to school headteachers urging them not to punish students for striking to attend demonstrations in areas including Glasgow, Ullapool, Fort William and Forres.
Read more: Climate Strike comes to Scotland: Children skip school to protest
Her protest soon sparked copycat demonstrations across Europe that saw around 75,000 students ‘striking’ on Fridays.
Today’s strikes have been organised by a coalition of youth climate change activist groups.
YouthStrike4Climate, the UK Student Climate Network and the UK Youth Climate Coalition expect thousands to attend their demonstrations.
They urge students online to “come along and strike for our future”
A Facebook event for the demonstration in George Square in Glasgow tshows almost 200 people ‘going’ and 630 ‘interested’.
The event is hosted by the Glasgow branch of Extinction Rebellion, a direct action group that uses civil disobedience to protest against an “unprecedented global emergency”.
Students in Edinburgh are not expected to strike because schools are still on holiday for Spring half term.
The Scottish Greens argue today in an open letter from Ross Greer MSP, the party’s education spokesman, to school leaders that that students striking from school are acting as “responsible citizens” and should not be punished for attending the demonstrations.
The letter reads: “Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence is based on the idea that we support our young people to become responsible citizens. Every school student who takes action against the climate crisis on Friday is doing exactly that.
“They should know that they will not be punished for defending their own future. They have the Scottish Greens’ support and I hope they will have the support of their teachers and education authorities.
“The scientific evidence of a climate crisis is clear. The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says that the world will see catastrophic impacts even if countries managed to limit warming to just 1.5 degrees Celsius, a target we are not close to reaching.
Read more: Climate change school strike by 13-year-old Scottish pupil
“Governments, including here in Scotland, need to act even faster than previously agreed.
“Young people have every right to be angry that their future is being destroyed by the inaction, complacency and greed of today’s leaders.”
Jim Thewliss, General Secretary of School Leaders Scotland, said that while schools have legal obligations and duty of care, and must record unauthorised absences from school, he would “not expect there to be a punishment element to this”.
“It says a lot about the Scottish education system and Scottish society in general that Scottish people feel strongly enough about this issue to protest,” he told The Herald.
“We as an organisation could not support not going to school. To our mind there are better ways of doing this.
“By law we are obliged to record students not being in school and we would inform their parents.
“We have a duty of care. There may be a significant number of students protesting legitimately but we would be negligent of that duty to not inform parents.
Striking in Scotland? Send your photos to the Herald newsdesk.
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