Australian Education Union members, many wearing black, rallied against the Malinauskas Government’s “insulting” 3 per cent a year pay offer.

The industrial action forced the closure of 167 public pre-school, primary and high schools, with many more opening with skeleton staff to supervise students but with no formal lessons. The Education Department said hundreds of schools were either operating as normal or had scheduled pupil-free days.

The strike came after the government rejected union pay demands for between 5 and 8.6 per cent a year for three years, along with hundreds of millions more in funding for school support officers to help students and teachers, as well as a reduction in face-to-face teaching time.

The protestors spilled onto North Terrace and even the tram line, forcing police to manually direct traffic at the King William Street Intersection.

One teacher told InDaily that educators deserved “a better offer”.

“Teachers were on the front line last year during COVID – we deserve a better offer from the Malinauskas Government for our kids’ futures,” he said.

Another teacher brought her own children to the rally and said she attended to “support other teachers”.

“We’re supporting our students and trying to improve our working conditions,” she said.

“We want recognition for what we do, more support in the classroom so that we can support our kids.”

She said it was important her children could see what was happening on the steps of Parliament.

Striking teachers rally at Parliament House. Photo: Tony Lewis/InDaily

AEU SA President Andrew Gohl told the crowd that the Government said it could not afford to pay teacher demands.

“This is not about the Government not having enough money; this is about the Government putting its money elsewhere,” he said.

“If we don’t get a better offer we will need to think about taking further action.

“Tell Peter Malinauskas we will be a pain in his butt.”