It is the news parents, children and others in the education sector were waiting for.

The province is announcing classes from pre-kindergarten to grade 12 will resume in-classroom when the new academic year begins in September.

“I’m here to say that students and staff will be returning to school this fall. As early as September 1, our classrooms will again be a place of teaching, learning and community for students across Saskatchewan,” said Education Minister Gordon Wyant during the province’s daily update on Tuesday.

“Re-opening schools is a significant milestone for our province, and an important step for families to get back to a new-normal.”

The Ministry of Education, with the input of the Education Response Planning Team, will distribute public health guidelines being developed in concert with the Chief Medical Health Officer. The guidelines will be available to school division as early as next week to ensure schools are safe for students, staff and caregivers.

Saskatchewan schools have been closed since March 20 when an indefinite suspension of in-class learning was announced in response to COVID-19. The school year is set to start as early as September 1, based on local school division calendars.

The government adds while returning to the classroom in September is what is being planned for, contingency plans will be put in place in the event there becomes an elevated transmission risk meaning in-class learning can’t go ahead as scheduled either regionally or provincially.

“If we see a second wave in the fall, we really don’t want to necessarily go into full lockdown as we did in March and April,” provincial chief medical health officer Dr. Saqib Shahab said. “We can look at transmission trends and determine which is the sector causing the transmission.”

(With files from Moises Canales)