Thousands of college and university students will be able to graduate this year afterall.
Starting on July 2nd, the province says that "limited in-person education and training" will restart for "academically stranded" students who were not able to graduate due to COVID-19 closures.
There are about 10,000 students included in that group.
Ross Romano, the Minister of Colleges and Universities, made the announcement today.
"This first phase will allow institutions to reopen to provide in-person instruction to students in essential, frontline, and high labour market demand areas, such as nursing, personal support workers, engineering, and other critical professions. Thousands of students across the province could benefit from this summer's reopening," the province said in a news release issued today.
Romano says the plan was developed in consultation with Ontario's Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. David Williams as well as post-secondary institutions to ensure the health and safety of participating students.
"We worked together with our sector through numerous consultations and discussions with presidents (of post-secondary institutions) coming up with a number of health and safety protocols that we believe the sector can follow and that would ensure the health and safety of every person who would attend."
Romano added that the partial summer reopening will help post-secondary institutions prepare for the fall term by ensuring proper health and safety protocols are in place by that time.
The province says that in September, all students will have the opportunity to attend post-secondary education through virtual learning, in-class instruction, or hybrid formats.
Niagara College announced its plans today. Click here to read more.