Emotional protest

"I hate her, she has to go,'' said Sarah Blake, waving a placard outside the Ministry of Education offices in Middleton.

Her feelings on Education Minister Hekia Parata - brought by the closure of her two kids' beloved Central New Brighton School - were shared by around 1500 others who joined the public rally against school closures yesterday.

They were protesting Monday's proposals to lose 12 schools and merge six.

Seven schools will shut by next January, in spite of assurances from the Ministry of Education that children could stay until 2015.

Hundreds of teachers declared a motion of no confidence in Ms Parata's role to date at a rally inside a packed CBS Canterbury Arena this afternoon.

The teachers, joined by parents and pupils, then marched on the Ministry of Education office to deliver the message.

Trains were halted during the 500m march where protesters waved placards chanting, "Hek no, she must go,'' and "Hekia Parata, hear our voice, we want options, we want choice.''

Emotions ran high as NZEI president Judith Nowotarski and John Leadbetter, a teacher at Parkview School which has escaped any threat of change, were greeted by a ministry official and taken inside to hand- deliver the vote of no confidence.

The doors were then locked as the crowd kept chanting and calling for Ms Parata to resign. Mrs Blake said her two children at Central New Brighton School - Ondreaz, 6, and new entrant, Navaeh, 5, - were devastated by plans to merge with South New Brighton. The 24-year-old summed up the feelings of many at the rally.

"Parata doesn't understand this,'' she said, looking around the crowd of people, waving banners and calling on the Government to listen.

"We've gone through so much and this is just the last straw.

"I've moved so many times because of the earthquakes, but the kids have always had their school, which is my old school, and their aunties and uncles school, and now it's been taken away from us.''

The motion of no confidence was put forward by local members of teaching union NZEI.

They are demanding that Ms Parata commits "to moving forward in an engagement that is credible and respectful.''

Ms Nowotarski said the Government has been "deaf'' to Christchurch schools.

The closures were driven by "political expenditure'' rather than what was best for pupils, she said.

Southbridge School principal Peter Verstappen opened the rally by warning Ms Parata that "there's a long way to go on this journey yet'', and that teachers would fight the closures.