Ontario's Education Minister, Stephen Lecce, announces $600-million in funding for the 2022-23 school year to help students who have been "set back" due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Due to COVID-19, students were forced to learn from home, causing some students to have slight set backs in reading, writing, and math.
Ontario announced today that $365-million of the $600-million will be put toward an application that parents can fill out to receive money to help with the rising costs of inflation, and to give students an opportunity for tutoring and other resources to help them achieve more in their school career.
Lecce says the Ontario government recognizes that parents play a critical role in the success of their children.
He says starting today, parents can apply for Ontario's 'Catch Up' payments of up to $250. The applications for these catch up payments will remain open until March 31, 2023.
"Parents across Ontario can apply for Ontario's 'Catch Up' payments. To put it simply, that means parents with school-aged children up to 18 can receive $200 for every child, and while parents with school-aged children with special education needs, up to 21-years-old, will be able to receive $250."
He says tutoring has been extended until the end of the year to give students a better chance at accessing help while they recover from learning from home.
"We are expanding tutoring supports to the end of the fiscal year, in every school board in this province, with a focus on math and literacy with more then $175-million provided. This free, publicly funded tutoring program will support even more students as they catch up."
Lecce says more supports are also being added for the youngest learners when it comes to reading with a brand new program.
"A new province-wide literacy screening program for the first time in this province's history. Every child will soon be accessed for their reading skills from kindergarten to grade two."
To improve math scores, the province is investing $50-million to deliver more school-based math coaches, new digital math tools in the classroom, more one-on-one tutoring, and additional supports for teacher training.
He says this new math curriculum focuses on real life application.
"For the first time kids are learning how to code, they're learning financial literacy and digital literacy in every grade, starting in grade one. Now, based on the EQAO results, the government is developing a new math recovery strategy to bolster math scores, competence, and practical knowledge in the classroom."
Lecce says that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students scores declined. Ontario, for grade three, had the smallest decline of all provinces of only one per cent.
He says despite the low drop, Ontario wants to do better for those students with more support.
The announcement comes just one day after the Canadian Union of Public Employees announced that they will be resuming contact talks on November 1 after virtually no progress was made during talks with the government earlier this week.
CUPE, who represents educational assistants, custodians and early childhood educators, will be in a legal strike position on November 3.