The corona goes nowhere - and so do the children • "Even when the level of morbidity is low, as long as the virus is circulating there is a danger of opening up the education system as usual," explains Prof. Hagai Levin • Ministry of Education source: The loss of the education system
The education and health systems estimate that studies will resume in just three weeks and even a month.
It is clear to everyone that the schools will not open after Sukkot.
The expectation is that even then the studies will return in a gradual manner, probably only kindergartens and grades 1-4.
According to a source in the Ministry of Education, "When there is a complete closure, this also applies to the education system. The morbidity data must be dramatically lowered, and only then talk about a gradual return to work and studies at the same time."
Photo: Yoni Rickner, Moshe Ben Simhon, Paz Bar, Newsenders
The deadline for the return of the education system was after the Sukkot holiday, but the increase in corona morbidity pushes that deadline away.
In some cities, those labeled as red cities as early as a few weeks ago when the traffic light project began, there have been no frontal studies since the beginning of the year - and it is not known when that will happen.
Public health experts explain that it will take a long time for the education system to recover.
"Regular studies throughout the system - not sure in the year 5771.
Will there be conditions that will allow the safe opening of the system in the coming months?
My assessment is that the likelihood of this is low, "says Prof. Hagai Levin, an epidemiologist at the Hebrew University and Hadassah and chairman of the Association of Public Health Physicians.
He adds, "Even when the level of morbidity is low, as long as the virus is circulating in the country, there is a danger of opening up the education system as usual. It is possible that we will also open the 5722 with a Corona threat."
According to him, teaching during the Corona period is a huge challenge: "Reform of the education system is needed to reduce the number of children in kindergartens and classrooms, and it will also bear fruit in teaching in the long term in general."
According to Prof. Nachman Ash, from the Department of Medical Management at Ariel University and former chief medical officer in the IDF, "there is a situation in which the upper age groups will not go to schools even in winter."
A source in the Ministry of Education added that: "The ministry is in the planning stages of preparing for the reopening of the school year and the program will be presented soon."
Already today there are experts who claim that in order to return to studies in the lower strata, there will be no choice but to study in capsules in kindergartens and grades 1-2 as well, as is currently the case among grades 3-4.
However, such a program, brought by Education Minister Yoav Galant, was removed following the position of the Ministry of Health that in kindergartens aged 6-3 and also in grades 1-2, there is no need to study in capsules.
Now, if it is decided to do so, preparations for the move could take more than two months.
According to Prof. Ronit Calderon-Margalit, Hadassah School of Public Health, The Hebrew University, "we must return to the layout of real capsules in all the lower age groups, kindergartens and grades 1-4, without mixing, not even in the afternoons."