In recent news, it has been announced that children in the State of Israel will soon be returning to frontal learning after studying from home for more than a year.
The government gave its approval to the new and adjusted Defending Education program designed by the Health Ministry. According to it, all the different capsules formed will be removed and a proper testing and monitoring system will be set up. It will stretch out across the country and the entire educational system to detect any outbreaks of the coronavirus.
If a student is diagnosed with the deadly disease, tests will be conducted on the entire teaching staff, as well as the students. They will not be permitted to enter their classrooms again until they complete an obligatory isolation period. In addition, the restriction placed on the transfer of aides and teachers between schools and classrooms will be lifted.
As per the plan, the higher education system, along with the non-formal education system, will function in its existing format. However, it will be brought up for discussion sometime in the next week.
Yoav Gallant, the Education Minister, stated that the natural place to be for students is inside school premises. He added that these children are highly valuable since they are the future generation of the country.
He expressed happiness at the fact that the healthcare system in the State of Israel has finally come to the realization that classroom learning is of utmost importance. According to him, being physically present in school is what is in the benefit of students, as well as their families.
For a while now, Gallant, along with some officials of the local authorities had been encouraging the government to give their approval for the reopening of schools. Alas, their efforts bore fruit since schools are all set to go fully physical after Independence Day.
This step was taken more than a year after students in the State of Israel had to learn from home, or later in capsules, due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, seeing the falling infection rates in the school system and the country, authorities saw it fit to resume full-time learning on school premises.
The Education Ministry also published a report discussing the statistics related to coronavirus in children. More than 800 students had contracted the deadly disease out of around 2.4 children. Moreover, 99 educational staff members had also been diagnosed with the virus.
The Education Ministry went on to report that the total morbidity has remained concentrated in 10% of the schools in the country. Of these schools, 70%, which is the majority, has reported only one case. None of the 5,200 schools in the State of Israel was shut down solely due to cases.
Furthermore, the number of children in isolation went down by 95% in the previous year. However, the effects of distance learning on the youth of the country have also been severe. A 30% decline in basic learning skills of first, second, and third graders was reported. In addition, a gap of around 30% has been created in primary subjects, such as English and Math.