“Happy, but afraid there will be a closure again”

After many months, 452,379 seventh- through tenth-grade students living in green, yellow, and “bright orange” localities will return to school on Sunday as part of the third beat decided by the Corona Cabinet. From the beginning of the year, students in grades 7-9 studied for a maximum of 16 days and students in grades 10 for 20 days.

As of Sunday, 1,837,373 will be taught in the schools in the various frameworks. Classes will be held in groups of up to 20 in a group, at least two days a week. In accordance with the outline set in coordination with the Ministry of Health, schools will be open six days a week. A teacher will be able to switch between four regular groups and a student will be able to switch between two organic classes.

In ordinary red and orange localities, learning will continue in the current format of activity: for five to six days a week, no later than 14:00 noon. In addition, students in personal integration in the framework of regular education will continue to study according to the personal program tailored to them.

After three closures, students return in hope but also in fear that this is a fluid and temporary situation and they may return to distance learning. An opinion written by Prof. Rezaf Levy, who has advised several countries in the United States over the past year regarding dealing with the corona plague, describes the long-term damage caused to children and adolescents.

This is an opinion attached to a petition submitted to the High Court on the issue of returning seventh-tenth grades to schools. Levy wrote that the impairment of the functional continuity of the education system has direct and indirect health consequences. “The violation includes a variety of aspects, including loss of schooling Learning and skills in critical years and impairing social skills. “

Beyond that being absent from school there are indirect health effects like obesity as a result of prolonged stay at home, depression, screen addiction and drug exposure and violence. These are due to the fact that the education system is a key anchor in maintaining a supportive emotional and social framework.

Deputy chairwoman of the National Parents’ Leadership, Odelia Schindroff, said the excitement of returning children to the school bench is almost at the same level as first-graders: “After four months of not attending the school bench and almost zero social gatherings, students yearn to return to school meetings. Education. What children will the teachers meet next week? Certainly not the same children they met four months ago: some lost hope, some were discouraged by the learning gap, some were in social isolation and some internalized the difficulties of the home during the Corona period. “

Schindroff said that alongside returning to school, there is a fear of infection and isolation if parents and educational staff are not vaccinated. “There is a great fear of another locksmith immediately after Pesach if God forbid the morbidity goes up,” she says, “and then again the first to pay the price will be the children. I hope with all my heart that the health care system and decision makers understand the terrible damage that happened in leaving children last.”

Gali Edri, a ninth-grade student, is happy to return to school, especially to meet friends and teachers and return to a routine he is sorely lacking. “The corona is a difficult and challenging time,” he says, “when it all started my friends and I did not know what to expect. After years of student-teacher-board learning, we were expected to be flexible in learning and intensive independent learning. Most of the material is expected of us to learn on our own “There is a load, the learning is cumbersome. In my class, the teachers compensated for the distance by zooming in and made personal telephone contact beyond school hours. It was nice and I really appreciated it.”

“It was stressful not to meet with friends but we managed to get used to it,” Edri continues, “We kept in touch on the phone and on social networks and also met a bit between closures. I personally have a hard time with all the restrictions.

“I’m not one hundred percent sure it’s a real rehearsal,” says Edri, “we’ve experienced it before and there was a closure again. Of the students again. ”

Amit Bar, a ninth-grade student from Matal El in the Misgav Regional Council, is excited to return to school: “Glad to see my friends and educator again. During the distance learning it was really hard to make a personal connection with each teacher, which is something I think is really important “Learning at school. During the closures I had a hard time mainly because we were closed at home most of the year with no option to go out but also because when you are at home all day you don’t really have a real agenda. You have to create and create the agenda for yourself.”

Yair Yohai, a ninth-grade student at the Amit Kfar Ganim yeshiva in Petah Tikva, says: “The truth is that if a month ago I was told to return to the yeshiva and regular learning, I would be very upset, but today I am very happy about it. Although much more fun and enjoyable through distance zoom “But there is no substitute for the personal connection between teachers and students and that is something I was missing.”

“It’s a bit of a shame that they only come back for a few days a week and there are capsules and you can’t see the whole layer,” says Yochai. ‘

Elia Ashkenazi, a ninth-grade student at ORT Dafna High School in Kiryat Bialik, expects to return to school: “Learning at home has many difficulties, whether it is the difficulty in communication between teachers and students or whether it is the emotional difficulty of not seeing friends. “I was hoping that they would bring us back, this is a significant year, that she will not come back.”

Donia is a tenth-grade student from Julis: “I waited so long for the moment to return to school. There were days when I really enjoyed staying home, in my pajamas and learning through the zoom, but our place is on the study bench in front of the teacher and friends. “If the routine is different, I still prefer to go back to chemistry and science classes, leadership and joint projects at school, meet my friends and teachers and feel the open air during breaks. There is no doubt that another locksmith fear always hovers over me so there is some fear that it might be temporary fun.”

Teachers are also waiting for the students to return. Maskit Zarbiv, principal of the middle school at Midreshet Amit in Modi’in, says: “Return is a great happiness. The students need it like breathing air. Learning in zoom is not easy and returning to normalcy releases and strengthens them in such a complex year. So the study sequence will no longer be in the near future. ”

Inbal Ron, CEO of the Dror Schools Network, adds: “My assumption about children and youth is that everyone, without exception, has been harmed in the past year at all levels: social, emotional, decreased self-esteem, academic and more. That is why returning to school is so important for the human encounter, first of all. Unfortunately, in recent days there have been voices talking about increasing stress in the academic aspect using the concepts of ‘learning marathons’. In my opinion this is a negative discourse that can be a disaster on the human, educational level. “Social and educational. We should not stress teenagers who currently have no air, no sense of worth. It will severely harm the future.”

“Students need to be allowed a recovery period,” says Ron, “to give them hope and reconnection to learning. To shine a spotlight on society and return to routine, these are essential messages after such a long period of detachment.”