The Health Ministry unveiled its plan for the upcoming school year on Sunday, with the goal of ensuring that students have their full in person education experience in spite of the coronavirus pandemic. However, Health Ministry’s Director General Prof. Nachman Ash said that some of the points in the outline are not closed yet.
Widespread testing, including serological testing to verify children who already have antibodies against the virus, will represent the key to contain infections and mass quarantines.
According to the plan, the school year will open in a normal way for all ages, from pre-school to high school. Contrary to what happened last year, children will not be divided in capsules but will study will all their classmates.
In addition, schools will function in person regardless of the color of their municipality: in the past, schools in cities or neighborhoods classified as red or orange under the Traffic Light System devised by the Health Ministry would switch to remote learning.
Individual schools would close only in case of widespread outbreaks among their students with a decision by the district authorities and the local health authorities.
However, mass testing will be organized for schools in red areas – and when possible also in local areas.
In addition, the ministry is proposing to create a special quarantine outlined tailored for the education system.
The Education and Health ministries will run a pilot for an isolation period of 48 hours for students and teachers who are exposed to a verified case but text negative.
Moreover, a widespread operation to carry out serological tests on schoolchildren to verify the presence of antibodies in their blood to allow them to avoid quarantine in case of exposure.
Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton and the ministry’s Director General Yigal Slovik stressed the importance of returning to in person learning as a tool to strengthen children’s resilience and to reduce the social and emotional damages caused by prolonged lockdowns and long periods learning remotely.
During a press briefing later in the day, Ash said that some of the elements presented by the ministry have not been closed yet.
In the past few weeks, there have reportedly been tensions between Shasha-Biton and health ministry’s officials about the management of the education system with regards to precautions related to the virus.
“We are working together with the Education Ministry to formulate the plan to open the school year,” Ash said. “In the statement that was published, there are some points that are not yet closed that we need to clear - there will be a joint discussion today.”
“We will continue the dialogue process to reach an outline that will ensure the health of our children within the education system and the continuity of learning in the face of an increase in morbidity.”