After the government failed to agree on a timetable for returning to school on Sunday after a four-hour hearing, the hearing was scheduled to continue yesterday (Monday), but due to disagreements between the Ministries of Education and Health, the cabinet meeting was postponed to today and the situation was extended until at least Thursday.
As mentioned, in the preparation for the cabinet meeting on the issue of education with the participation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, Education Minister Yoav Galant and Finance Minister Israel Katz, the four agreed on an outline according to which green and yellow cities will resume classes in grades 1-4 and 11. 12, as well as kindergartens.
According to the outline, in the orange and red cities, studies will be resumed in small capsules (half-grades), with the kindergartens, as well as grades 1-4 and 11-12, studying alternately only in the open air, ie in the format of ‘yes, no’. This initiative regarding studies in the orange and red cities has received much criticism among parents and educators who claimed that it is not feasible, and that even today, about 80% of Israeli citizens live in cities defined as red and orange. These include some of the largest cities in Israel: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Beer Sheva, Petah Tikva, Ashdod, Rishon Lezion and Holon.
The Coalition for Birth Education stated yesterday: “The guidelines are not applicable and reveal the difficult and cumulative disconnect between the government and what is happening in the field and in particular the needs of toddlers and staff. We call on the Israeli government to formulate a comprehensive plan led by professionals and parents From everything back to normal. “
Although the cabinet meeting on the issue of returning to school has not yet been scheduled, last night Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu consulted with Defense Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Bnei Gantz, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, Education Minister Yoav Galant, Corona Professor Prof. Nachman Ash and Ministry of Health representatives. At the end of the discussion, Netanyahu announced that it had been decided that the education system would not be opened today and that consultations on the issue would continue in the coming days, in view of the fear of a renewed outbreak of the corona virus in the education system.
Prime Minister Netanyahu emphasized yesterday that “we will open education very carefully, only in some places, then trade and then culture.”
What caused the sharp change in Galant’s position?
Since Yoav Galant took office as education minister, he has repeatedly declared that he will struggle to open up the education system despite the danger of the outbreak of the corona virus in schools. Galant based his arguments on the fact that children are not contagious and the proportion of students infected in Corona is very low. However, it has recently been reported at the top of the Ministry of Education that the minister has changed his attitude and is instructing his superiors not to comment on the issue.
Yoav Galant (Photo: Avshalom Shashoni)Last weekend, a meeting was held with the participation of the ministry’s top officials, in which the minister announced that he intended to remove from the cabinet the demand for the opening of the education system. The officials present at the meeting were shocked by his position on the issue up to that meeting.
“It was a different Galant. I saw in his eyes that he realized he was wrong. I remember the meeting we had two months ago, where he announced that he would not give a hand in closing the schools and stand on his hind legs. Suddenly we heard completely different things from him,” said a minister.
Another source confirms this and says: “We asked him ‘Mr. Minister, what caused the sharp change in your position? After all, you told us to attack the Ministry of Health’. In response, he answered in one word ‘the mutations’.” “I think in the last month he has made a mental calculation and realized that perhaps if we had not insisted on the opening in September – Israel would have avoided at least one of the closures.”