Prime Minister Naftali Bennett decided to open the school year on September 1 in most parts of the country

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has announced that he has decided to open the school year on September 1 in most parts of the country, with some adjustments in the outline for the renewal of the school year. The discussion was also attended by the Minister of Education, Yifat Shasha-Bitton, and the Minister of Health, Nitzan Horowitz. The decisions will be brought to the approval of the Corona Cabinet this evening.
According to the decision, the school year will open in all classrooms, except for eighth-twelfth grades in red localities where less than 70% of students received the first dose of the corona vaccine. from afar.
According to the decision, as of September 30, the red localities will require a vaccination threshold of up to 70%, in these classrooms, in order to conduct regular classes in the classrooms. During September, the Ministry of Education will work to encourage students who have not been vaccinated - to be vaccinated in schools.
According to data from the Ministry of Health, the decision will not have a significant impact on high school students. According to the ministry, about 80% of high school students have already been vaccinated with the first vaccine, and about 70% have been vaccinated with both doses.
In the age group of eighth-ninth grades, the immunization rate is lower - 47% of children aged 15-12 were vaccinated in the first dose, and 31% were vaccinated in both doses.
In addition, the Prime Minister's Office announced that as part of the routine in schools, rapid corona tests will be widely used, in addition to the rapid corona test that was passed on to parents this week ahead of the start of the school year. However, it is still unclear how many tests will be performed and what their frequency will be, and for which age groups.
According to data from the Ministry of Health, currently about 87,000 students are in isolation, about 32,000 of whom are verified for Corona. In addition, 4,288 teachers and staff are in isolation or verified.
The Ministry of Education is supposed to provide verified or isolated students with a distance learning service, but until now the ministry has not regulated the use of content sites in the education system, such as the Ofek site or the Galim site. The Ministry of Education said that there are other solutions that will allow distance learning for the isolated and verified students.