[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ fullwidth=”on” admin_label=”Title Screen” module_id=”home” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” collapsed=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_fullwidth_header title=”ARE THE KIDS ALL RIGHT?” subhead=”How the pandemic has reshaped the lives of Ontario’s students” header_fullscreen=”on” header_scroll_down=”on” content_orientation=”bottom” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” title_font=”|700|||||||” title_text_color=”#FFFFFF” title_font_size=”60px” content_font_size=”20px” subhead_text_color=”#FFFFFF” subhead_font_size=”32px” subhead_line_height=”1.3em” background_image=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/pandemic-learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/pexels-camille-lemiale-10036827-copy.jpg” text_shadow_style=”preset2″ text_shadow_color=”#000000″ global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
By Kate McCullough<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_fullwidth_header][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Introduction” module_id=”intro” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#FFFFFF” custom_padding=”||2px|||” border_color_bottom=”#E09900″ border_style_bottom=”dotted” collapsed=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”The day the pandemic upended their lives” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#000000″ header_3_text_color=”#0ca8cc” header_3_font_size=”18px” width=”80%” module_alignment=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Aisha Mahmoud, a student in Hamilton, Ont., was at her first high-school soccer tryout when her coach told her that Ontario would close its schools for another two weeks after March Break to fight the spread of COVID-19.<\/span><\/p>\n On that day, Arianna Chua, in Grade 8, was watching the news at home in Milton, Ont., in the greater Toronto region. Within weeks, their dad\u2019s business, a Filipino food store, would be decimated. A few months later, they would miss graduation, leaving elementary school without any closure.<\/span><\/p>\n Jazzlyn Abbott, a student from Petawawa, Ont., two hours west of Ottawa, and a friend \u201cwent out with a bang\u201d at a concert, her last social event for some time. Pretty soon, she would face months of isolation in her rural town.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt was definitely kind of a shock because this had never happened before,\u201d said Kaden Johnson, a Mississauga student with Peel District School Board. \u201cOne thing I was definitely not thinking about was how this would impact my future years because I didn\u2019t expect it to last so long.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Yet, two and a half years later, this is top of mind for Kaden, Jazzlyn, Aisha, Arianna and about two million students across the province as they absorb the pandemic\u2019s devastating effects on primary and secondary education in Ontario, the most populous province in Canada.<\/span><\/p>\n In June, students finished a third \u201cpandemic year\u201d of school, defined for most by stress, isolation, erratic in-person learning, disruption of daily routines. It also brought grief \u2013 of illness-related loss, but also of friendships and a \u201cnormal\u201d childhood.<\/span><\/p>\n The pandemic creeped into Canada in late January, 2020, and quickly spread. Less than two months later, the country shut down. In Ontario, stores, offices, clinics, movie theatres and schools were closed. <\/span><\/p>\n The streets of Toronto, the largest city in the country, stood still, save for near-empty streetcars and taxis. People were afraid to leave their homes and so those who could avoided it altogether. <\/span>Overnight, Ontario became a ghost province.<\/span><\/p>\n For two and a half years, governments across the world struggled to address a public-health crisis. Meanwhile, another crisis emerged as kids\u2019 lives were upended.<\/span>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/cusjc.ca\/mrp\/pandemic-learning\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/Kaden-Johnson.jpg” title_text=”Kaden Johnson” admin_label=”Image” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” width=”41%” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”|489px||||” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” text_font=”|700|||||||” text_text_color=”#E09900″ text_font_size=”12px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Kaden Johnson, a Peel District School Board student in Mississauga, Ont., has been learning remotely since March 2020. [Photo courtesy of Kaden Johnson]<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider color=”#E09900″ divider_position=”center” divider_weight=”2px” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_divider][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”Ontario schools closed longest in North America” module_id=”closures” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”2px||0px|||” collapsed=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#000000″ header_2_font=”|700|||||||” header_2_text_color=”#E09900″ header_2_font_size=”30px” header_2_line_height=”2.5em” header_3_text_color=”#0ca8cc” header_3_font_size=”18px” width=”80%” module_alignment=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n In Ontario, schools were closed to in-person learning for 220 days \u2013 about 44 weeks \u2013 in three academic years, more than in any other province or U.S. state and double that in British Columbia and Saskatchewan.<\/span><\/p>\n School closures in Ontario:<\/span><\/p>\n Vulnerable kids are hit hardest when schools close. And even when schools were open, a slew of public-health measures \u2013 masking, grouping students together in \u201ccohorts\u201d that do not interact with each other, screening and cancelled extracurriculars \u2013 dramatically altered the school environment.<\/span>[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_code admin_label=”Code” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”0px|||||” link_option_url=”https:\/\/docs.google.com\/spreadsheets\/d\/163A_UYlRo-RcOGOgcqlFgb5OPZlBQbl0RAvd63bSQB8\/edit#gid=0″ global_colors_info=”{}”]Ontario schools closed longest in North America<\/h2>\n
Kids have suffered mentally, physically, socially and academically over the last two and a half years, and experts say school closures are largely to blame.<\/h3>\n
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