BREAKING: Ford government releases full 2021 back-to-school plan

Ontario students will be returning to the classroom full-time come this fall, according to the 29-page document released by the province's Ministry of Education.

The document, which lays out Ontario's 2021 back-to-school framework, provides details on how school will look for students in Ontario's elemtary and secondary schools.

While students will be returning to the classroom, students will still be permitted to participate in class remotely, with the option being provided by the province's school boards. Students have not been able to attend class full-time since the March 2020.

Other information in the document details how schools will be permitted to conduct filed trips, school assemblies, and extracurricular activities. Masks will be required indoors, with exceptions for gym classes and lunch or snack periods.

Music programs will be given the green light, with singing and wind instruments permitted so long as social distancing is maintained.

Symptom screening will be done away with, as parents will now be responsible for detecting symptoms in their children.

"A measured approach to reopening schools is important to support schools to maximize health and safety as places to work and learn and remain open to in-person learning for the full school year,” the document states. “School boards and schools (publicly funded and private schools) are expected to employ multiple strategies and a layering of controls to support healthy and safer environments for students and staff."

Asymptomatic testing will no longer continue, and students who are vaccinated will have sorter periods missing classes than their unvaccinated counterparts.