The Education Ministry is working to create a stable and safe wartime education system, Education Minister Yoav Kisch said in a briefing on Sunday.
"Our directive is security for students and staff above everything else as we go back to a state of emergency normal," he said. "The process is being done gradually and according to the needs of the staff and the abilities of the local authorities."
The ministry has already opened 40% of schools that are allowed to have on-site teaching according to the Home Front Command's instructions. For those who have to keep teaching online, the ministry has made available all the programs they may need for free.
For younger children, kindergartens will be open where possible from Sunday to Thursday. This means they won't be open on Friday like they usually are. The Education Ministry is also working to get parents refunds for the days of daycare when they couldn't send their children.
Another priority for the ministry is to allow stable education programs for people who evacuated from the South. As such, three new schools are being opened in areas with greater numbers of evacuees - Eilat, the Dead Sea, and the Central Arava.
Who will staff these impromptu schools?
The staff in these impromptu schools are divided with some being paid staff from the Education Ministry and others volunteering. Kisch said the goal is to enable a stable staff, all of whom are paid.
Parents who evacuated independently can register their children for schools and kindergartens in the places they evacuated to.
In terms of the response to on-site teaching, Kisch said it depends on the location. In some cities, the parents have been pushing for the schools to open and are eager to send their kids to school, while in others, the schools have been opened, but barely any kids have shown up.