Distance learning will cease - some 180,000 teachers will be on paid leave

Distance learning will cease as of Thursday and all teachers in Israel - some 180,000 teachers - will be on paid leave. This was the case today between the Ministry of Finance and the Teachers' Union. The teachers' organization, which represents high school teachers, is expected to update its position soon, but it is estimated that it will agree to the outline.
In return, the Teachers' Union agreed to shorten the holidays by 10 days - instead of 14 days according to the original proposal of the Ministry of Finance. Great freedom will be shortened by 9 days, and the day off granted to Lag Ba'omer in the current school year will also be canceled. Of the Council for Higher Education on Academic Extension at the expense of Summer Vacation. Lecturers at all universities and colleges agreed to shorten their summer vacation while continuing to study remotely without any prerequisites.
The agreement with the teachers is only valid for the current term of the education system - until the end of the Passover holiday in mid-April. If it is decided to extend the educational system's downtime as a result of the spread of the Corona, further steps may be taken. In any case, in the education system, it is estimated that after the crisis, significant cuts will be made in the education system - which will be reflected in teacher pay cuts and teacher layoffs.
The decision to require teachers to return only 10 working days, instead of 14 days, was made after the Treasury agreed to calculate the number of days that teachers worked in distance learning (four days since last Sunday) as full-time working days. Tomorrow the teachers will go on vacation, in the form of a Passover holiday, and will receive a salary as is customary for other holidays in the education system.
Since Sunday, the education system has been working in the form of "distance learning" - parents keep in touch with students via email, watsap groups, or other means and give them daily practice tasks. In recent days, following the Treasury announcement, the Ministry of Education has begun routing learning remotely to live broadcasts it broadcasts on its network (on its YouTube channel), and does not rely on teachers.
Now, following the decision, teachers will not be required to teach remotely, but only at their own will. The Ministry of Education will rely mainly on live broadcasts of lessons and hope teachers will keep in touch with students or send them practice assignments, despite the announcement of a vacation.
Since the start of distance learning last Sunday, it has become clear that government ministries were not prepared according to the scenario of disabling the education system. So far, parental reports indicate that distance learning is mainly based on short practice on Web sites, with one of the main sites used by the Ministry of Education not functioning properly under load, and alongside the Ministry of Education broadcasting lessons. However, teachers keep in touch with students and ask for their pay, which is of great value to students and their sense of security.
Last Sunday, the Treasury announced to teachers that as a result of the spread of the Corona, and the decision to disable the education system, they would require all teachers to take a leave of absence for free. In the treasury, teachers presented another proposal - whereby the great freedom would be shortened in 14 days and in return the teachers would go on vacation and their wages would not hurt.
The Teachers' Union said it opposed the outline and announced that because teachers continue with distance learning exercises, they would refuse to go on vacation for free or short term freedom - unless a message was stopped to stop learning.
Treasury Director General Shai Babad announced in response that the possibility of receiving full wages without shortening the great freedom is not at all at stake. Yesterday, Avad said: "The Ministry of Finance does not force teachers to work from home. Teachers are the ones who will decide, depending on their sense of social solidarity, during this crisis. Regardless of their decision, the option of paying full wages for work from home - is not on the table. The options available to them are going on vacation or going abroad. Teachers are no different from the hundreds of thousands of public sector workers who want to work from home but are forced to take a forced leave. "
Today, the Secretary of the Teachers' Union, Yaffe Ben David, met with the Wage Commissioner at the Finance Ministry Kobi Bar Natan to reach an agreement. At this stage, a similar meeting has not yet been held with the teacher organization Ran Erez, but in the education system it is estimated that the organization will agree to the outline, and that the high school teachers are also on vacation.
According to estimates by the Ministry of Finance, the damage to the economy resulting from the return to school only amounts to NIS 200-400 million per day, so that to date only the economic cost of the return is up to NIS 1.6 billion, and does not include the higher cost of slowing the economy or Of closure.