More than 19,000 students in more than 60 schools and universities on the small Canadian province of Prince Edward Island have been evacuated Wednesday over a series of threats, including an anonymous bomb threat received by police.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Wednesday that students at more than 60 English language and French language schools are being taken to safe locations by staff outside the schools, where buses are meeting them.

"Police agencies and school administration are evacuating all Prince Edward Island schools due to a potential threat," the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said in a statement.

Students at all primary and secondary schools across the Atlantic island province were taken to designated safe locations, federal police said, with parents anxiously awaiting information about where to pick up their children.

Parker Grimmer, the island's director of public schools, says police contacted the school system Wednesday morning about "a threat that was of a significant nature" and asked for the evacuation of all schools.

Three schools in the nearby province of Nova Scotia — NSCC Marconi Campus, Cape Breton University and the NSCC technology campus in Halifax — also have also been evacuated due to potential threats.