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London

Premier Ford: schools could stay closed beyond April 6

Both the Premier of Ontario and the province's Education Minister admit that the COVID-19 pandemic could keep schools closed longer than the two weeks after March Break.

At a news conference on Friday, Premier Doug Ford and Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the date on which schools re-open in the province is subject to change. Both said the decision on when to re-open schools, which are currently scheduled to remain closed until April 6, will be made based on input from the province's Chief Medical Officer of Health, Dr. David Williams.

Lecce said, if the closures are extended, parents can be assured that their children will still have opportunities to learn while at home.

"We have a plan for the interim period of the next two weeks and we will have a plan should Ontario's chief medical officer expand that order for an additional two weeks or for the remainder of the semester," Lecce said. "We have a plan to scale up learning, to help inspire young people to learn at home."

To that end, Lecce and Premier Ford announced the first phase of the government's online "Learn at Home" program. It is an online resource that, according to Lecce, that will help "mitigate learning loss, provide interactive teacher-led math supports, and empower all students to learn the key skills with an emphasis on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) education."

Learn At Home is being launched in conjunction with TVO, which will provide online access to learning tools for students from Kindergarten to Grade 12.

“The COVID-19 emergency has changed how Ontarians live, work and play in a matter of weeks, and TVO services are evolving along with the needs of the people we serve,” said Chris Day, TVO’s board chair. “Making digital learning products more widely available will hopefully be welcome news to learners and their families, and our current affairs programming will continue to keep Ontarians informed.”

More information and links to the various online learning tools can be found by clicking here.

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