The provincial government is putting a plan in place to partially reopen Ontario's post-secondary schools.
Ross Romano, minister of colleges and universities, made the announcement on Wednesday afternoon. According to Romano, the plan will act as a gradual resumption of in-person instruction at Ontario post-secondary institutions for a summer term.
Starting as early as July 2, limited in-person education can restart for students who were unable to graduate due to COVID-19 closures.
The first phase will allow institutions to reopen for students in essential, frontline, and high labour market demand areas. According to Romano, the key focus will be helping those students who were left "academically stranded" by the pandemic.
"Essentially, any student who would have graduated by this point but they had to attend in-campus to complete certain lab practicum or other in-person training. As a simple example, we were able to deliver many courses online but if you think of a program like welding, we can't expect somebody to pull their welding kit out in the middle of their living room floor to be able to complete those course requirements," explained Romano. "Those students in that type of situation would have to attend in-person."
Romano estimated that there are around 10,000 students across the provincial post-secondary sector that would be able to take advantage of the program
In the coming days, the province will be developing the framework for the limited summer reopening and release it to post-secondary institutions. The framework will include guidance on health and safety measures.
"The overarching principle is ensuring that the measures that we've referred to since the start, in terms of social distancing at a minimum of two metres apart, are in place. So there will be screening measures at the door of every institution to ensure that only students, faculty, and staff that absolutely must be on campus are permitted on campus," Romano said.
The program will conclude by September when students across the province will have the opportunity to attend post-secondary education through virtual learning, in-class instruction, or hybrid formats.
