Kindergartens and schools across the country will open tomorrow from 7:30 am instead of 7:55 am as has been the case up to now.
Education Minister Yoav Galant said: "In a tour I did this morning, I found that the bottleneck created by opening at 7:55 am poses a health and transportation hazard, making it difficult for parents and educational staff. I will continue to work to get the system back to normal as soon as possible."
Earlier in the day, Galant instructed his staff to update the outlines for opening afternoon daycare, and starting this Sunday, the Ministry will allow afternoon daycare to be run in the form of mixed groups.
With this in mind, tens of thousands of students across the country will be able to continue the school day sequence as students receive a hot meal, educational, social, and educational content, enrichment and homework assistance, enabling parents to return to full time employment.
Following the update, afternoon daycare operators will be able to open a group consisting of students from grades 1-2 from a maximum of three different classrooms. Groups from adjacent kindergartens may also be involved. The Ministry's update applies to nursery and public kindergartens only.
Pre-school daycare will operate in kindergartens and grades 1-2, and grades 1-5 in regular and special education. Their activities take place on Sundays and Thursdays from the end of the formal school day until 16:00.
"Our immediate and primary mission is to bring back the education system's activities with all its components and in this context, to afternoon daycare as well," said Galant. "We're working hard to do this. This is an important step that allows parents to return to work and there will be more steps in the coming days."
Education Ministry Director Shmuel Abuhav said: "Reducing gaps is one of the Ministry's main goals, and the daycares have an important place in reducing them. Full activity of the daycare centers will enable thousands of students from all socio-economic levels to continue to enjoy a rich and high-quality educational framework. Alongside this, their full opening will allow many parents to return to work and go back to their former schedules."