Schools in Israel Reopen on Thursday

Students in Israel, who are studying in Kindergarten and in first till fourth grade, will be returning to school on Thursday in yellow, green, and a few orange cities as well. After being in lockdown for weeks, school administrations were given permission to reopen their premises to students on the night of Tuesday. The coronavirus cabinet gave its approval and outlined a plan for this purpose. 

As per the approved plan, Kindergartens will operate all six days a week, during their regular hours. However, aftercare for students studying in kindergartens will only be open for five days a week. Specific staff will be assigned to each particular group, with around 28 kindergarteners in each group. 

Where older students are concerned, first and second grades will be permitted to attend physical classes five days a week. The maximum number of hours allowed in a day is five. In these two grades, teachers are allowed to move between no more than three allotted groups. 

Aftercare for students studying in first and second grades will be operational for five days in a week. The same rule will apply for these students as with Kindergarteners, which states that specific groups will be assigned their own staff. 

Meanwhile, third and fourth graders will be learning in set groups containing at least 20 students each. These students will be expected to attend school five days in a week for five hours every day. In groups of third and fourth graders, teachers will have permission to move between no more than four set groups. Where fifth till 12 graders are concerned, they will be carrying on with their studies online. 

Kindergartens, elementary schools, as well as middle and high schools, will have groups of around 9 students and a single teacher, who will be allowed to meet in open areas. This will include students who are currently in school along with grades that are not going to be starting physical studies in the upcoming days. 

The test plan created by the Education Ministry will be followed for seminars, practice tests, and matriculation exams. 

Despite this detailed plan, people are wondering by the State of Israel, the ‘innovation nation’ has not been able to come up with a way to send all of its children back to school. The one question that everyone wants to know the answer to is why the government took so long to come up with a plan, which would enable at least some students to resume physical classes. 

It seems as if sending students back to school was not a high priority decision for the coronavirus cabinet. In addition, the decision-makers in the government are of the opinion that millions of students connecting to Zoom is a good enough solution right now. 

However, the people of the country believe that the Zoom model is not effective. They believe that ramming information down the throats of students has not been working nor will it suddenly start to work.