An Ontario company is donating thousands of face shields to provinces across the country to help prepare teachers and staff for the return to classes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Waterloo-based The Canadian Shield is donating 750,000 face shields in total, with 7,200 of them allocated for Newfoundland and Labrador.

The donation is a national thank you gesture after several Ontario school boards helped the company in 3D printing of visors for front-line workers in the early days of the pandemic.

The shields are certified by Health Canada and can be sanitized and reused more than a dozen times or more.

The company has also launched a line of kids shields to fit children aged 5 to 12.