Late on Sunday night, the coronavirus cabinet, through a telephone survey update, gave its approval to the traffic light program. As per this plan, kindergartens and school will reopen across several cities in the country. The program began earlier on Monday morning.
However, the plan was announced well into the night and there was not enough time for the decision to reach the relevant authorities. Therefore, several cities announced that they were not prepared to reopen schools so soon. They have delayed allowing students on campuses until Tuesday.
Yuli Edelstein, the Health Minister, announced that the index currently used to designate cities as orange, red, or green, will be re-examined at least twice a week. Previously, it was only revisited once a week at most. By the increased number of checks, a greater number of students will be permitted to return to physical classes at the earliest.
The updated guidelines have iterated that cities that have been designated as yellow will reopen their kindergartens and schools, either on Monday or Tuesday. A few of these yellow cities include Ariel, Haifa, Giv’at Shmuel, Modi’in Maccabim Reut, Kiryat Yam, Kiryat Bialik, and Sakhnin.
Similarly, there are some cities that have been categorized according to a light orange color. They too have been granted permission to offer physical classes in kindergartens and schools. Some of these orange cities include Ma’ale Adumim, Sde Nehemya, Eilat, Gan Yavne, Gush Etzion, Ganei Tikva, Kfar Yona, Yokneam Illit, Mevaseret Zion, Nahariya, Peduel, Pardes Hanna-Karkur, Ramat Gan, Mevo Horon, Rehovot, and Yakir.
In the city of Jerusalem, kindergartens and grades one through 4 will begin their physical classes in several neighborhoods on Tuesday. The Jerusalem Municipality made this announcement after they received approval from the Health Ministry, as well as the coronavirus cabinet.
This decision will be applicable on many neighborhoods in the city. Some of these include Gonenim, Talpiot, Rasko, Armon Hanatziv, Baka, Mekor Haim, Givat Havradim, and Arnona. However, there are already some neighborhoods in Jerusalem that resumed in-person learning a while ago.
Where grades five through twelve are concerned, the coronavirus cabinet stated that they are to continue learning from home. They have also been permitted to study in designated learning goups in certain open spaces. But, there cannot be more than 9 students at a time, as per the announcement made.
The Mayor of Jerusalem, Moshe Lion, congratulated the coronavirus cabinet for coming up with this plan. He believes that this is a step in the right direction, which will ensure the return of thousands of students across the city to school.
Moreover, Lion went on to encourage the residents of Jerusalem to get vaccinated as soon as possible. In his opinion, that is the only way that the people of the country can return to normal life.
Just last week, preschoolers, kindergarteners, and students in grades one till four, returned to school in areas designated as yellow and green. Children residing in light orange areas, as per the traffic light rating of the Health Ministry, have also been allowed to return to school and resume in-person learning.