Schools set to close as Alberta provides online curriculum ahead of teachers strike

Schools across Alberta are preparing to close their doors while the province readies a home curriculum for students ahead of Monday's provincewide teachers strike.

Education Minister Demetrios Nicolaides says the province has already put online a curriculum that parents can use to teach their children should the 51,000 members of the Alberta Teachers' Association make good on their promise to walk out.

Nicolaides says it's not fair that students would be forced to bear the brunt of the walkout, which would affect more than 700,000 students across public, separate and francophone schools.

Earlier this week, nearly 90 per cent of union members who voted rejected the province's latest offer, which included a 12 per cent pay hike over four years and a promise to hire 3,000 more teachers.

Union president Jason Schilling says teachers recognize a strike could inconvenience parents but that they're standing up for children.

He says parents should be putting pressure on the government to start taking education seriously.