All grades to return to school Sunday, but not full time
Students in 4th to 10th grade will return to school in a limited format Sunday, the Education Ministry announced Monday as the government continued to lift restrictions applied during a lockdown to curb the coronavirus outbreak.
Israel’s education system was shut down in mid-March with teachers and pupils switching to distancing learning methods instead. As other sectors of society and commerce have been permitted to reopen there has been increasing pressure from local authorities and parents to restart schools.
Students in 4th-6th grades will attend lessons for five to six hours a week, and 7th-10th graders will return for two to three days per week, the ministry said Monday.
Pre-schools kindergartens, 1st-3rd grades and 11-12th grades have already returned to classes over the past 10 days, albeit with class sizes capped and various social distancing and hygiene guidelines in place. Universities are only set to resume classes on June 14.
According to the Education Ministry announcement, classes for grades 4-12 will not exceed 20 students. Students will be required to wear masks if they cannot keep two meters apart from one another.
Under the plan, different grades will meet at different times or on different campuses in order to stagger attendance and avoid overcrowding in schools. That will means some students attending school on Fridays or later than normal, and others only attending a few days a week.
Modiin Mayor Haim Bibas, who heads an organization representing city leaders and regional council heads, skewered the plan and said officials “have gone mad.”
“The plan presented to us tonight is way out of line and completely detached from reality,” Bibas said. “Students cannot come for one day a week, when others are coming for two days a week.”
“Either open the entire education system or don’t open it at all.”
He called on other local politicians to “apply all of the pressure necessary so that all children, and all parents, can return to normalcy as soon as possible.”
A request by the Education and Finance ministries to increase the size of 4th-6th grade classes in order to relieve some of the pressure was rejected by Health Ministry Director General Moshe Bar Siman-Tov, according to Haaretz.
Bar Siman-Tov also rejected an Education Ministry proposal to allow a full return to middle and high school studies in communities with low infection rates.
On Tuesday the finance and education ministries will discuss a proposal to fully open kindergartens in municipalities where the virus has been brought under control.
Kindergartens are currently operating under a scheme that sees children divided into groups, each of which only attends for half a week.
The announcement came as Health Ministry figures continued to show no more than a few dozen new infections daily. Israel has taken a series of steps in the last two weeks to begin gradually reopening its economy and rolling back restrictions on movement and small gatherings, with many clamoring for a swifter return to levels of service seen in pre-pandemic days.
The Transportation Ministry announced Monday that bus service will resume on Fridays and Saturday nights. Buses will also begin running again on Shabbat in areas that normally enjoy had service then.
Israel Railways will also begin limited service next week on Sunday to Thursday, if approval is given by the Health Ministry.
Israel Railways said the passengers will need to maintain social distancing, wear masks and will not be permitted to travel if they have symptoms of virus infection.
The railways said it will run a campaign to keep passengers informed of Health Mnistry instructions and carry out checks at the entrances to stations where security guards will take passengers’ temperatures and ensure they are wearing masks and disinfecting their hands.
Train trips will initially be limited to a handful of lines, but will expand in two weeks to full service pending approval from the Health Ministry.
Among the stations that will remain closed for the time being are those in Jerusalem, Bnei Barak, and Herzliya.
On Sunday, heavy congestion at bus stations was reported as soldiers returning to base and other commuters attempted to cram onto a limited number of buses.