The Coronavirus Cabinet will convene Sunday afternoon for a crucial discussion on the opening of the education system. A final decision on the opening of the school year is expected to take place at this meeting.
The Yisrael Hayom newspaper reported that despite the countless statements that the school year will open on time, the decision on how to open and which of the students will be in classrooms at the start of the school year will be made only at the last minute.
At the request of Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton, experts, professionals and representatives of teachers 'and parents' organizations will participate in the discussion, in order to thoroughly discuss the issues on the agenda and the various outlines proposed. The decision made at the hearing will be binding on all members of the government.
Many viewpoints will be represented at the Cabinet meeting - each of which will pull in a different direction on the most crucial issue of all, the opening of the school year. On the one hand, the Education Minister and the parents who demand the opening of the school year on time. On the other hand, there will be proposals from ministers to postpone the school year, at least in some age groups, in light of the number of cases of serious illness.
One of the proposals that has already been raised is to return only the post-primary students first, and wait with the kindergarten and elementary students until after Rosh Hashanah or until October 1st. "We do not know of such a thing, no one has talked to us about it and it has never come up on the table as an option," an Education Ministry official said of the proposal.
"There is no promise at the moment. We can not say that we will begin the school year on September 1 for sure. But with the current situation and the reports of the decline in morbidity, we are optimistic. Something dramatic must happen so that the school year does not open."
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said last night that "our goal is to prevent a rerun of the 200 days of quarantine (a bad world record) and the Zoom classes that were in the past year. I have four children in schools and I saw them fade in front of the Zoom lessons. We must live and study alongside the coronavirus."
According to the Ministry of Health, about 100,000 students are currently ill or in isolation (24,000 active patients and another 76,000 students in isolation), which affects many families who will not be able to start the school year. Meanwhile, efforts are underway to implement the Education Ministry's outline of coronavirus tests. Last Friday, 1.7 million rapid antigen tests landed at Ben Gurion Airport, with the goal of having parents test their children (aged 3-16) at home the day before returning to school - in the hope that a sick child will not come to kindergarten or school.