COVID-19 lockdown: Education Ministry announces distance-learning plan

Remote learning has come in for huge numbers of complaints over the past year for many reasons.

By HANNAH BROWN
Empty classroom at Cramim school, Beit Hakerem, Jerusalem, October 21 2020 (photo credit: OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90)
Empty classroom at Cramim school, Beit Hakerem, Jerusalem, October 21 2020
(photo credit: OLIVIER FITOUSSI/FLASH90)
The Education Ministry announced a plan for how it would handle remote learning following the tightening of regulations during the current lockdown which begins Thursday night at midnight and is expected to last until January 21.
Remote learning has come in for huge numbers of complaints over the past year for many reasons: some families do not have enough devices for all their children, children do not pay attention as well online and often to not even log on, there has been confusion over scheduling and frustration over the fact that parents are expected to help out when anything goes wrong.
Education Minister Yoav Gallant clearly expressed his wish to keep the school system open, noting in a statement Thursday that, “the analysis of the data of the education system by the best experts and analysts proves that the education system curbs infection, since about 85% of the morbidity data occurred outside the education system. It has also been proven over time that morbidity rates among students who do not stay in educational institutions are higher than those of students studying at the time.”
The education guidelines for remote learning released later in the day Thursday were an attempt to fine tune the remote learning process.
Preschool and kindergarten staff will make sure to contact the parents, in order to plan for the needs of the children and the parents themselves. The team will set regular schedules for meetings and provide updates on how to help with the teaching program. These young children will have individual programs as much as possible.
Elementary school children will study at least five days a week. There will be a mix of learning in full classes and smaller groups and the whole class will check in with its homeroom teacher in the morning and the evening. These children will focus on core subjects such as language, math, science and English.
Middle schoolers will have a similar program but will also have a social component as well, which will aim to help them stay in touch with friends and avoid the loneliness and anxiety that has plagued many adolescents during this crisis, according to statistics from psychology clinics.
Tenth and eleventh graders will also have more independent work, while teachers will monitor their social development as much as possible.
For twelfth graders, the focus will be preparing for the matriculation exams later in the year, as well as completing any assignments necessary for graduation. Students will also take part in a program to prepare them to enter the army and to also be ready for daily life as adults.
Special education studies will continue to take place even during the lockdown for five days a week, because the ministry has deemed that the special education system is therapeutic for its pupils. But the minister decided that the school day would be shortened to 2 p.m. to alleviate the burden placed on the special education teaching staff, “who have been working tirelessly since the outbreak of the coronavirus.”