Plan presented to reopen schools

The Education Ministry presented its plan for returning students to schools at the end of the second lockdown to the Knesset coronavirus committee on Monday.

Classes will be conducted in capsules of 18 students, and students will be required to remain in their capsules at all times.

The cost is estimated to be NIS 7.5 billion. Education Ministry director- general Amit Edri said it would take five weeks from the time the budget is allocated to prepare educational institutions to reopen, according to the framework laid out in the plan. The cost of keeping the system shuttered is NIS 300 million per day, according to the Finance Ministry.

The plan spells out how the budget will be spent, and the bulk of it, NIS 5.2b., will go toward extra staffing to make the capsules possible. Another NIS 1.5b. is to be spent on transportation because smaller numbers of students will be transported on each bus or van. NIS 400 million will be needed for personal protective equipment ( PPE) and another NIS 400m. for computers

For parents, the key issue in the plan is that schools must operate five days a week and that afternoon activities will function as normally as possible.

Eight preschool teachers were found to be infected with the virus in tests taken before schools reopened, the Ramat Gan Municipality announced Monday. Such tests helped avoid risks that could lead to closing preschools and putting hundreds in quarantine, it said.

Only 3,000 preschool staff members had been tested, the Private Preschools Forum ( PPF) announced Monday, calling the low number a “failure.”

“The government has once again failed in correctly building an exit strategy and opening of the education system,” PPF chairman Hanan Dagan said. “Due to the short preparation period that was provided, about 3,000 kindergarten teachers and assistants underwent a coronavirus test out of about 100,000 staff members. This is a mockery and meaningless.”

Despite the lack of testing, 90% of private preschools reopened.

At a meeting of the Knesset Labor, Welfare and Health Committee on Monday, coronavirus commissioner Prof. Ronni Gamzu warned that reopening schools would open the door to outbreaks in young people, who would then infect older people.

“There is no dam that can withstand this current,” Gamzu said, adding that the driving force of the outbreak are youth who usually do not have severe symptoms.

In the coming days, the quarantine period would be shortened to 12 days, with a test administered on the 10th day, he said.

Public transportation will resume operating on weekends starting this weekend. Shared taxis to Ben- Gurion Airport and religious sites resumed on Monday. Buses and trains will still have a limit of 50% capacity. Lines to educational institutions will not operate, and trains will operate from Sunday to Thursday.

Some 1,617 fines were issued for violations of coronavirus regulations on Sunday, with most of the fines for not wearing a mask.

On Sunday, there were 903 new cases out of 27,300 tests done.

On Monday, up till 7: 30 p. m., there were 632 serious cases with 246 on ventilators.