Ford has announced that Ontario schools would not reopen for in-person study this spring.

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Kirti Pathak
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Doug Ford

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Premier Doug Ford said at a news conference on Wednesday that students in Ontario will not return to class until September. Ford said on Monday that his government is analyzing responses to a letter issued last Thursday seeking recommendations on reopening schools from a variety of experts, including public health officials and teachers' unions.

Ford said at a news conference on Wednesday that while some experts feel youngsters should return to school, they couldn't guarantee that doing so wouldn't result in hundreds of new COVID-19 cases, especially when variants of concern are taken into account. The province claimed in a press release that recent modeling from the Science Advisory Table revealed that reopening schools to in-person instruction could result in a six to eleven percent increase in the number of new daily COVID-19 cases.

The same modeling forecast an increase in cases if Ontario reopened before mid-June, which Ford claimed he is currently proposing. Schools will remain open until the end of June for special education children who cannot be accommodated through remote learning, according to the province. Due to rising COVID-19 rates in the third wave of the pandemic, most students in Ontario have been learning remotely since April 19.

Ford stated that the government is working to ensure that students return to school in September in a "safe and normal" manner. The premier stated, "We'll use this time to get our instructors and pupils vaccinated." According to Ford, the province will also upgrade school air systems.

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The province's decision on Wednesday was panned by critics. During the question period, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath noted that Ontario is the only jurisdiction in Canada where children do not attend school. In a statement, Sam Hammond, president of the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO), claimed Ford's administration has failed to handle the pandemic by dismissing stakeholders, including science table advice.

The Children's Health Coalition, which includes SickKids and McMaster Children's Hospital, said in a statement that it is "deeply disappointed" that Ontario has not acted on a "broad consensus for a regional reopening of in-person learning" reached by experts in public health and teacher's organizations. According to Ford, the government is also working with school boards to plan in-person, outdoor graduation ceremonies for all grades. The prime minister didn't go into detail on how that might operate. In Ontario, just five persons from outside a household are permitted to gather outside at any given time.

When asked if COVID-19 vaccinations would be required in schools for the coming school year, Ford stated that he does not believe individuals should be compelled to get them.

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