The government has not yet decided when to return students who have not yet returned to school, and many believe that education should be given top priority. • Some believe the damage is so great that the opening should come before economic considerations.
For many days, the Israeli government in general and the Corona Cabinet in particular have been discussing the question of what relief can be given to the various activities in Israel, with the main debate between the parties being that of opening up the education system.
We turned to experts in other fields and to business people to discuss the issue, and we received broad agreement that education is as important to the country as the hospitals and the IDF.
Photo: Omar Miron, GPO
Professor Doron Gazit of the Rakach Institute of Physics at the Hebrew University and a member of the university's advisory team to the Corona Cabinet, together with his staff, believe that returning students to schools must be a national priority.
"The fact that students have hardly studied frontally since Purim is becoming a reality that has significant long-term damage. This is why many European countries also open schools in closures. University staff believe the damage is so great that this opening should in my opinion precede economic considerations. And others, "he said in a conversation with" Israel Today. "
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"There are whole areas of the country that are completely 'green' and need to be started. Experience around the world shows that opening up the education system does not have to be a critical cause if infected properly, so start opening now so students do not get hurt, as this is a significant long-term injury." .
"After the opening, you have to see what happens and proceed so that there is no change in the rate of infection. The opening must be careful: maybe study one day a week, maybe deliver some of the lessons in open places or in other ways."
Amos Shapira, chairman of the Technion and former CEO of El Al and Cellcom, states that the education system must be opened up, just like hospitals and the IDF. "Today we are paying for the political split in Israel that drives slow decision-making, in which every issue is discussed endlessly. Able to set priorities.
In moments of crisis, companies that are managed incorrectly collapse - and here we see a similar situation of collapse, because there are no decisions and setting priorities, "he told Israel Today.
Shapira believes that just as the IDF and hospitals did not close due to the fight against the corona outbreak, so the education system should not have closed. "The entire system should have been told that the education system is open, and that they will now find ways to run the whole economy around it.
After all, no one thought that the IDF should be closed down. When management knows what its direction is, then they find solutions and do not engage in endless discussions around the issue. Take the ultra-Orthodox, for example, where it was determined that the education system is more important than people who died. "Unfortunately, the government and the political system are weak, the political rift in our crises and not promoting priorities."
Eyal Gabay, chairman of the United Health Fund and former director general of the Prime Minister's Office, unequivocally believes that education precedes any other opening of the economy.
"It must be remembered that critical age education is something that cannot be completed at all later. The state can compensate businessmen and lend them money, but there will be no way to compensate students in twelfth or sixth grade who are not studying for the second year.
It is absolutely clear that the education system must now be opened before anything else, "he states in a conversation with" Israel Today. "
Maj. Gen. Giora Island, former head of the National Security Council, believes that the question of who to give higher priority to - education or the economy - shows how the country is not functioning during the crisis. "The corona crisis has not been defined in Israel as a national crisis at the highest level. Decisions that work by default, so everything looks the way it does.
"When there is a national crisis, the expectation is to manage the crisis with 100% of the resources the state has, but in Israel only 20% of the resources we have are used, so there is no fighting with all our forces in this serious crisis," he said.
Contrary to popular support for the early opening of the education system, a senior businessman and former senior figure in the Ministry of Finance told Israel Today that he thinks students have already been harmed, so a two-week delay in opening schools "will not prevent the damage they suffer."
He said the only consideration behind the decision was economic: "The moment had to be taken advantage of to accelerate processes that have been talked about for years, such as learning in small groups of computing, and then the education system would have managed well even within the Corona crisis. And the damage already exists on the ground - so the only question that needs to remain is how to operate the economy in the best way. "
