To fight Corona in the education system, the Ministry of Health has initiated the "Education Shield" program for orange and red cities, and weekly PCR tests of students for morbidity.
However, the Israel Today survey reveals that the Ministry of Health's sampling capacity cannot meet the needs of the education system, and allows only 20,000 students to be sampled per day, and a total of 100,000 students per week.
According to the "Education Traffic Light", the number of students in elementary schools (Sunday-Friday) studying in red and orange cities stands at about 704,000, so this means that only 14% of the relevant students can be checked.
It should be noted that the Ministry of Health claims that the sampling capacity will increase to 40,000 students a day, but if the list of red and orange cities remains as it is - this will not be enough to reach all students.
It should be emphasized that since the beginning of the school year, only about 1,000 samples have been taken as part of the "Education Shield".
By the way, in the previous school year, the "Shield of Education" program operated in the schools, but it was not successful due to the inability to sample a large number of students at the same time.
In addition, parental responsiveness was also low.
As for the current school year, even now the Ministries of Education and Health are facing difficulties, and the Ministry of Health is already reporting a low response, especially in the Arab sector.
However, it must be said that the tests are performed only in schools where there is the consent of more than 70% of the parents.
This is an arbitrary threshold set by the Ministries of Health and Education, perhaps because in this way they could argue that there is not enough demand for testing by parents.
In practice, the scope of parental consent has no value, since in any case those whose parents do not approve are not sampled.
That is, the protective education program could also be implemented in schools where 50% of parents approve of sampling their children.
In any case, returning to school after the holidays will take place in exactly one week, with the number of sick students standing at more than 39,000, and another 98,000 students in isolation.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett held a discussion on the continued operation of the education system.
Education Minister Yifat Shasha Bitton and the director general of her office participated in the discussion, along with representatives of parents and teachers and other professionals.
During the hearing, Bennett said that "children without school - are deteriorating in all parameters. We must allow continuous learning, otherwise we are raising a generation of zombies here."
"Live 2020 Forever"
The Prime Minister added that "we are going through a difficult period of 'after the holidays'.
I want a clear education outline that is understandable to any parent.
I say in advance - the first days of October will be complex.
The first thing done - once again a blow to antigen testing.
Anyone who wants to constantly close and add restrictions - condemns us to live 2020 forever, or at least in the foreseeable future. " 100,000 on average, excluding sick students) constitutes less than 5% of the students in the education system (2.4 million).
But many of the students in the post-primary schools are vaccinated, so the endless isolation is a problem for parents and students in kindergartens and the lower age groups.
Prime Minister Bennett, Photo: Yoni Rickner
Moreover, the little ones can not be left alone, and their isolation actually leads to the isolation of the parents, the loss of working days and the disruption of the routine of life - and the parents are at a loss.
"Every time we discover that there is nothing behind the words and promises, other than isolation," says Tzofit Golan, vice chairman of the national parents' leadership.
According to her, "the economy has returned to full activity - buying, spending time, flying abroad.
Only education does not yet have a real solution. "Golan and other parents call for shortening the isolation days as soon as possible:" For a year and a half, our children have had no horizon.
They are being left behind, the gaps are widening and the emotional, mental and social damages are growing.
"The medical staffs are fighting the epidemic, and we parents are fighting an exhausting war for the soft soul, for the livelihood, for the future of us all as a country and as a society."
The green class
The Ministry of Education claims that the "Green Class" pilot, whose job is to reduce the days of isolation based on a quick antigen test every day for a whole week, was successful, and the government even promised to shorten the days of isolation for students - but the massive entrances will probably remain here even after Sukkot.
In a letter sent recently by the director general of the Ministry of Education, Yigal Slovik, he wrote to the teachers that the green class pilot was a success. Data collected showed that the pilot was a 70% success.
The pilot began with 10 classes in ultra-Orthodox schools, which began their studies on Sunday in Elul (August 9).
Due to high morbidity, three classes were excluded from the program - meaning students were sent home to study.
No sick students were found in the other classes after the third day.
In recent days alone, the pilot has expanded to 10 additional classrooms, in four different schools in Arab society.
The former director general of the Ministry of Education, Amit Edri, said that “the education system has been operating its austere purple daughter since the beginning of the corona, and the first-grade students with masks in the classroom.
The data indicate that more than 85% of the verified people became infected outside the school walls.
In addition, according to the Ministry of Education, more than 90% of the isolates are negative for Corona - meaning there is no reason today to isolate all students when there is verification in the classroom.
You can isolate the closest circle, perform a quick check and return to study. "
"There is no reason for isolation"
Edri stressed that "I see no reason for long and massive isolations, in light of the learning and lessons learned from the past year and technological developments. Daily antigen tests should be done for isolators, even through parents, and eliminate isolations."
Edri added that "it is better to perform daily or weekly antigen tests for families, with an emphasis on children, than PCR tests that are currently less available, and take time to get an answer. PCR testing can be performed during the week, rather than as a condition for eliminating isolation."
It should be mentioned that according to the decision of the ministers, entry into the educational institutions after the Sukkot holiday will be done only by presenting a negative result of a quick corona test.
This extraordinary decision led to a harsh response from the Teachers' Union, which is threatening to appeal to the High Court against it.
