Over 100,000 Ontario Students Return to In-person Learning Over 100,000 students from several regions across southern Ontario returned to school on Monday for the first time since winter break. But they will have to follow stricter COVID-19 measures to keep themselves and school staff safe, according to the province’s education minister, Stephen Lecce. In a statement released on Sunday, Lecce told schools in seven public health units that will reopen for in-person classes on Jan. 25, that the province has introduced “additional and tougher layers of protection” in its safety measures and protocols to keep students and staff safe, as advised by the province’s chief medical officer, Dr. David Williams.