Friday July 29, 2022
Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday July 29, 2022
Education minister says Ontario students will stay in class for in-person learning this school year
January 31, 2020
Education Minister Stephen Lecce on Monday committed to keeping Ontario’s two million students in class for in-person learning this school year, as the province continues to face uncertainty from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It is so consequential to children’s mental and physical health,” Lecce said at a news conference in Ajax, where he announced his ministry’s “plan to catch up” for students who fell behind during pandemic-related school closures.
Ontario students were, cumulatively, out of in-person classes longer than children and youth in any other jurisdiction in North America after the pandemic began in March 2020.
Lecce’s commitment comes amid a backdrop of ongoing negotiations with the province’s education unions whose contracts are set to expire at the end of August.