Saskatchewan students from prekindergarten to Grade 12 will return to in-classroom learning for the upcoming school year, the province announced Tuesday.
"Re-opening schools is a significant milestone for our province, and an important step for families to get back to a new normal," Deputy Premier and Education Minister Gordon Wyant said Tuesday.
"Thank you to the teachers and staff for the tremendous job they have done connecting with their students while in-class learning has been suspended."
The school year could start as early as September 1, depending on the division's calendar, the province said.
Full details of how the return will work were not released Tuesday. The Ministry of Education will distribute public health guidelines, developed with the province's chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab, as early as next week.
While in-classroom is being planned, the province said contingency plans are in place for if there is "an elevated transmission risk, and in-class learning cannot resume as planned, either regionally or provincially."
The province's education response planning team (RPT) — made up of government officials, the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation, school divisions and the business community — will be providing direction on operational matters.
Schools in the province were closed indefinitely on March 20.
The government has been weighing three options for the fall: hold a regular school year, have fully-online learning for all students or a hybrid of the two.
B.C. reopened schools voluntarily on June 1. Manitoba decided to partially reopen schools on June 1 for one-on-one or small group instruction, assessments and limited programming.
Both the University of Regina and University of Saskatchewan announced they plan to primarily offer remote learning this fall.
