Tests for students and teaching staff along with tours of Talmud Torah and seminars: how the ultra-Orthodox city managed to return students to schools against all odds
"Show me another city that runs independent school tours"
Photo:
Coco
The ultra-Orthodox cities were today (Tuesday) as a pharmacy.
A few hours after the Corona Cabinet defined Beitar Illit, Rechasim, Emanuel and Tiberias as red cities and ordered not to open the school year, the rage was heavy.
Due to the relatively late hour in which the decision was made, the parents had to inform their children in the morning that they would not meet with their friends and start the new school year.
See you in first grade.
But in one city, particularly notable for the number of corona patients - both in the first and second waves - they surprised and opened the school year as a series.
Bnei Brak managed once again to overcome the enormous challenge in an extraordinary way.
Although the city is still on the verge of becoming a red city, the steps taken by the municipality, together with Maj. Gen. (Res.) Roni Noma, who is managing the crisis, are leading to almost unprecedented success.
In the shadow of the corona: about 2.4 million students return to school // Photo: Yoni Rickner, Moshe Ben Simhon, Paz Bar, Newsenders
"We took responsibility for our fate and spent millions of shekels to fight the virus," said city treasurer Eric Adler, who has also served as head of the city's corona headquarters for the past six months.
Towards the start of the school year, the municipality took an unprecedented step to test all the kindergarten teachers and assistants in the city, 700 in number, to make sure that there were no Corona patients among them.
At the same time, they convened all the principals of Talmud Torah (the equivalent of an elementary school) and agreed with them on strict guidelines designed to prevent the spread of the virus.
"We go to five Talmud Torahs every day to check that they meet the conditions, and whoever does not meet the target will meet the police after us," Adler says.
"Show me another city that runs independent school tours."
In the future, the Bnei Brak municipality plans to conduct tests for all seminary students (grades thirteen and fourteen), about 4,000 in number, in order to prevent the spread of the virus in these institutions.
6,000 yeshiva students have already been tested, and the hand is still outstretched.
"We took responsibility and started working," Adler adds.
"We will continue to storm with all our might to meet the task."
On the other hand, in Beitar Illit, the residents were furious at the decision to define it as a red city, even though the data made it clear that this was not the case.
Despite the ban on opening the school year, the residents decided to open the schools as usual and despite the danger.
After repeated inquiries, the Beitar Illit municipality claimed that the schools had been closed, but city residents say this is only partially true.
"Most of the schools were open. Some were closed after the police arrived and sent the students home. It was horrible to see first graders returning agitated to their homes," said a city resident.
At the same time, the mayor of Beitar Illit, Meir Rubinstein, sent an angry letter to the Ministry of Health, in which he demanded an immediate change in the classification of his city as a red city.
"To my amazement, I discovered that Beitar Illit had entered the definition of a red city, even though according to all my facts, the city is not like that," he claimed.
"In recent months, we have worked massively to reduce morbidity in the city, while building training with the city's residents. A reality in which we are discriminated against in an incomprehensible way - harms public trust."
Even in the locality of Rechasim, it was difficult to understand why they were forbidden to send their children to schools, and why the message was received at the last minute.
"We received a message from the school principal last night and we were very disappointed," said Shlomo Hominer, a resident of the place.
His daughter, who was supposed to start fourth grade, stayed at her home.
"Everything was set up and ready, and now the uncertainty is great. All the girls are frustrated. If the situation continues even after the weekend it will be horrible and terrible."
