Many Manitoba schools will remain in remote learning until end of school year
Many students in the province will have to close out the school year by learning at home.
The province announced all Kindergarten to Grade 12 schools in Winnipeg, Brandon, Garden Valley, and Red River Valley school divisions will remain in remote learning until the end of the school year.
Education Minister Cliff Cullen said students in these areas will be allowed to meet with teachers in small groups starting June 14, unless Public Health says otherwise.
These groups will be able to receive in-person support, clinical support, assessments, and transition planning.
Other schools in the province that have switched to remote learning individually can reopen after being assessed by Public Health.
Dr. Jazz Atwal, Manitoba’s deputy chief provincial public health officer, said 21 per cent of COVID-19 cases are in school-aged kids.
"It's important to note these individuals may not have caught the virus at school though, they may have contracted the virus from a household contact or through community transmission," he said.
Atwal added there have been 335 cases linked to schools in the last 14 days prior to May 30, and 170 schools have one or more cases.
"Our case numbers aren't where they need to be. Our acute-care system numbers are still high and we still need to worry about that and we're going to have to continue worrying about it for the next few weeks as well. So we looked at all that information, I felt this was the best way to continue forward," he said.
With students finishing another year not in the classroom, Cullen was asked how the province plans to ensure students are caught up next year.
"Clearly, we're allowing a couple of weeks here at the end of the school year for teachers to interact with their students and parents, and make sure that we understand where the students are at so the assessment protocols are certainly in place," Cullen said.
"We recognized there's going to be some catch up required next fall. So we have made allowances for school divisions to provide that extra learning capacity."
The minister added that the duration of time the small groups will need to be in the school will be left up to each individual teacher, noting that the teachers know their students best.
Asked why this announcement wasn't made last week when the province extended the remote learning process by a week, Cullen said it is hard to know what the future holds.
"We were optimistic that the numbers would go down, the pressure might be less on our health-care system," he said.
When it comes to next year, Atwal was asked if Manitobans can expect to see students back in the classroom.
"Vaccine uptake is paramount in our ability to get back to some of those things that we love do," Atwal said. "The vaccination program, vaccines, are going to be able to provide that glimmer of hope that we're going to get back to some normalcy."
He added that the next school year is still a long ways away, but he thinks the province will be in a better spot in the fall than it is right now.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Quebec police hand out hundreds of tickets to Hells Angels and other bikers before 'first run' meeting
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
Auston Matthews skates ahead of Game 7, status unclear with season on the line
Centre Auston Matthews of the Toronto Maple Leafs hasn't been ruled out of tonight's Game 7 against the Boston Bruins.
Snakes almost on a plane: U.S. TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger's pants
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.
A Chinese driver is praised for helping reduce casualties in a highway collapse that killed 48
A Chinese truck driver was praised in local media Saturday for parking his vehicle across a highway and preventing more cars from tumbling down a slope after a section of the road in the country's mountainous south collapsed and killed at least 48 people.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
Britney Spears 'home and safe' after paramedics responded to an incident at the Chateau Marmont, source tells CNN
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.