This coming Sunday: Students in 62 localities will not return to schools

by

Education in the Shadow of the Corona: This coming Sunday, the Hanukkah holiday will end and students will return to school, but fifth- and upper-grade students, including middle and high schools in 30 municipalities and red neighborhoods and 57 orange municipalities and neighborhoods, will not return to school because of rising morbidity. Earlier today the Ministry of Health updated that yesterday, for the third time in a row, more than 2,800 carriers of the corona virus were diagnosed.

Fifth- and sixth-grade students return to educational institutions // Photo: Paz Bar

This is something that many parents and students feared happened, and this coming Sunday, students in 62 localities, including 25 neighborhoods in Jerusalem, will remain at home after being in the schools for only a few days. The Ministry of Health updated that the list of cities that became red and orange has expanded and now there are 110 localities, cities, districts and neighborhoods, including a large number of neighborhoods in the capital Jerusalem and also Raanana, Ashkelon, Or Yehuda, Dimona, Mevaseret Zion, Kiryat Bialik, Kiryat Yam, Kiryat Malachi, Abu Gush, Baqa al-Gharbiya and more.

Unlike kindergarten and first- to fourth-grade students, fifth-graders and above will not return to classroom learning if their city turns red or orange. Returning to online learning means a lot for many students, first and foremost for high school students who will take the matriculation exams in a month and a half.

Students return to school at Moore High School in Reut // Photo: Jonathan Shaul

Like the proportion of patients in the general population, the number of sick students has increased (not necessarily those infected during their stay in educational institutions): 4,485 sick students and 916 sick teaching staff. The number of closed educational institutions has also jumped – for example, there are 442 closed kindergartens due to illness (out of 21,000 kindergartens). The number of students in solitary confinement stands at 40,000 and another 3,600 teaching staff in solitary confinement.

As mentioned earlier today, the Ministry of Health updated that on the third day in a row, more than 2,800 people were diagnosed yesterday as carriers of the corona virus. It was noted that yesterday 79,521 tests were performed, 2,809 of which came out positive, so that the rate of positive results stands at 3.6%. On Wednesday, 2,823 people were diagnosed and on Tuesday, 2,862 people were diagnosed.

.Source