The children were originally supposed to return to school on Sunday, but increasing infection pushed off any decision on the matter. The earliest they could return now is Tuesday.On Saturday, Education Minister Yoav Gallant released a video on his Facebook page in which he said, “It is essential to send students back to school immediately – especially grades five, six, 11 and 12 for whom a decision was already made.”Gallant said that “the education system is prepared. Our excellent teachers and principals... know what to do. Let us start learning!”He wrote above the video in the post that “for the people of Israel, the children must come first.”Last week, the Education Ministry released its final proposal for opening schools for children through sixth grade, plus classes for students in grades 11 and 12.The new plan would put first and second graders back into their classrooms without capsules five days per week for five hours each day. Third and fourth grades would learn without any changes, with pupils learning in set groups of up to 20 five days per week for five hours each day.Fifth and sixth grades would learn in set groups of up to 20 students, at least three days per week for at least 14 hours each week. No transfers will be allowed between groups. Finally, 11th and 12th grades would learn in groups of up to 20, at least two days per week.Against the backdrop of Sunday’s meeting will be the understanding that infection is climbing.The reproduction rate (R) rose to one on Friday, an average of the rates in the general society (0.94), ultra-Orthodox community (0.92) and Arab sector (1.07) – meaning that on average, each infected person is infecting one other.Levy added in his interview with KAN News that he was concerned about the increase in the reproduction rate and that Israel should be careful not to open up irresponsibly. The Health Ministry had said that unless the reproduction rate is below 0.8 further reliefs should not be rolled out.Newly appointed coronavirus commissioner Nachman Ash and Saif visited Kafr Kassem on Saturday, where morbidity has been on the rise. During the trip, Ash said that Kafr Kassem is a central Arab city with a lot of traffic and “we don’t want to see it become a hotbed of infection that sets the whole area on fire.”Kafr Kassem Mayor Adel Badir said that of the city’s 91 sick people, some 70 caught the virus at a particular wedding. He asked for financial assistance to get morbidity under control and requested that the government impose a night curfew on the town in order to stop illegal gatherings from taking place.