More than half of New Zealand's public schools closed their doors on Wednesday amid a mass walkout by teachers over pay and conditions.
The ministry of education estimated that almost 60 per cent of schools were closed as some 50,000 teachers staged a "mega-strike".
"We didn't want to be on strike, but we did it for the future of education in Aotearoa (New Zealand)," the country's largest education union, NZEI Te Riu Roa said in a statement.
"We hope the government heard us - they must take bold and urgent action to fix this."