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About 2,354,000 students in kindergartens, elementary schools, middle schools and high schools will begin the new school year at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday morning.

The students will be welcomed by 200,000 teaching staff and a new education minister who declared this school year to be marked by mutual responsibility and a strengthening of values.

Minister of Education Rabbi Rafi Peretz said on Saturday night, after the conclusion of Shabbat, "In this age, the challenges are large and complex, so our work does not conclude at the end of the school day. The role of the system in accompanying the student and shaping his character even outside the school building is crucial. We want to design a moral, human-loving society here and a society that values mutual responsibility, and therefore the central theme I chose for this year is mutual responsibility."

The Ministry of Education has opened a situation room in which the parents, students and teaching staff will be given information about the start of the school year. For questions regarding the start of the school year, the public is invited to call the hotline at 1-800-222-003.

On September 17, the students will have a one-day vacation due to the Knesset elections. At the end of the month, the vacation for the Tishrei holidays will begin with Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Sukkot.