More than 280,000 Ontario students returning to in-class learning Monday

It will be back the classroom for more than 280,000 Ontario students starting on Monday, but not for anyone in the GTHA.

Ontario’s education minister announced on Thursday that four public health regions will be returning to in-class learning on Monday.

“The government agrees with the growing consensus in the medical community that returning students to in-person learning is essential to the wellbeing, development and mental health of children. According to leading medical and scientific experts, including Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health, our province’s schools are safe places for learning,” Stephen Lecce said in a release.

The four public health units returning to class on Monday are:

• Eastern Ontario Health Unit
• Middlesex-London Health Unit
• Southwestern Public Health
• Ottawa Public Health

Those units include the following school boards:

• Catholic District School Board of Eastern Ontario
• Conseil des écoles publiques de l’Est de l’Ontario
• Conseil scolaire de district catholique de l’Est ontarien
• Conseil scolaire de district catholique du Centre-Est de l’Ontario
• London District Catholic School Board
• Ottawa Catholic District School Board
•  Ottawa-Carleton District School Board
• Thames Valley District School Board
• Upper Canada District School Board

Despite their return, local public health units retain the authority to close specific schools based on circumstances. As well, parents can still choose to keep their children in remote learning.

This decision by the government follows the opening of schools for in-class learning in seven public health units in Ontario. About 100,000 students headed back to class on Jan. 25 in areas including Peterborough, Grey Bruce, Renfrew County and Kingston.

There has been no word on when the government will start opening schools in the province’s hot zones, including Toronto and Peel Region.

While the number of daily COVID-19 cases have been dropping since the province implemented its stay-at-home order, they remain far from the what they were when schools opened after the first wave, back in September.

In late December, the government announced that all schools would be closed to in-person learning for the first week of the winter term.

That closure was later extended to Jan. 25 for all schools in southern Ontario while students in northern Ontario returned to physical classrooms on Jan. 11.

The government then declared a state of emergency on Jan. 12 and extended online learning for schools in five hot spots until Feb. 10.

With files from The Canadian Press