PM Bennett escorts his son to school
PM Bennett escorts his son to schoolאבי אוחיון, לע"מ

Israel’s public school system officially opened the 2021-2022 school year Wednesday, with some 2.4 million children heading back to school, even as the fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic continues.

According to a report in Israel Hayom Wednesday morning, 35,508 students will be unable to attend class Wednesday after testing positive for the virus, with another 55,390 students in isolation.

In total, roughly a quarter of a million students were unable to attend class on the first day of school, most due to the restriction on in-person learning in towns with high infection rates. In such ‘red’ communities, classes for eighth through twelfth grades is permitted only if more than 70% of students have been fully vaccinated.

Students in red communities whose classes are less than 70% vaccinated will open the school year with ‘distance learning’ over the internet.

According to Health Ministry statistics, 81% of 16-18-year-olds starting 10th, 11th, and 12th grades are vaccinated, while just 56% of 12-15-year-olds starting 7th, 8th, and 9th grades have received the first dose of the vaccine.

School staff members must now adhere to the ‘green pass’ system, and will only be allowed on school campuses if they are vaccinated, recovered, or have a recent negative COVID test, including rapid antigen tests up to 84 hours old.

The Education Ministry has yet to draw up plans for replacement teachers should unvaccinated teachers refuse to submit to regular testing.