B.C. braces for return to in-person learning amid Omicron wave

As students and teachers prepare to return to in-person learning on Monday, many parents are being forced to make a difficult decision: Keep their child at home or drop them off at school?

As students and teachers prepare to return to in-person learning on Monday, many parents are being forced to make a difficult decision: Keep their child at home or drop them off at school?

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry has been reluctant to close schools and require students to learn online again, as they were required to do in spring 2020.

Speaking at a news conference last week, the province’s top doctor emphasized the desire to keep kids in classrooms as much as possible.

“We know schools are safe. They’re the best and safest place for our children and they are essential for their social and emotional development as well as intellectual development,” Henry said Tuesday.

She said keeping kids in school is among the highest priorities in the province right now, and that doing so would require flexibility from all, including parents and teachers.

British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan are the only provinces heading back to the classroom this week. The rest of country will temporarily switch to remote learning until at least Jan. 17, a decision some B.C. parents say this province should have made weeks ago.

“I can’t understand why they would even attempt this,” said Mollie Kaye, a parent in Victoria.