Health Ministry said to caution against reopening of kindergartens Sunday

Officials in the Health Ministry have cautioned ministers against voting to reopen preschools and kindergartens on Sunday, Channel 12 reported Wednesday. The move had been approved pending a situational assessment and a final vote was to be held Friday.

The officials are reportedly concerned that the return to school of so many small children who are unable to maintain social distancing and hygiene rules could cause a new outbreak of the coronavirus.

Instead, the officials have suggested a more gradual reopening of the education system, starting only with the lower grades in elementary schools and excluding preschools and kindergartens.

In addition there are still a number of factors that will prevent many parents from returning to work, the network reported.

Private and subsidized daycares are threatening to strike starting Sunday, saying their financial and health concerns have not been addressed in the Education Ministry’s plan. Daycare owners and workers have said they will protest outside the Knesset and in Tel Aviv Thursday, demanding the Treasury compensate them for loss of earnings in March and April.

There is also no plan in place for after-school programs, meaning that many parents would still be unable to go back to work if schools and kindergartens finish at around 1-2 p.m.

Furthermore, the Health Ministry will not give approval for a full reopening of the special education frameworks.

The report came as growing disquiet among parents led the Education Ministry to say that parents will not be compelled to send their children to schools if they have concerns.

“It is clear to us that we have parents who are worried. We understand that, and we will not force parents to send their children,” Inna Saltzman, deputy director-general of the Education Ministry, told the Kan public broadcaster Thursday.

According to the Education Ministry’s plan for the resumption of studies on Sunday amid the pandemic, children in first through third grades will return to school five days a week, for five hours a day, with classes capped at 15 students.

Kindergartens and preschools will also reopen, but only for three days per week, with a limited number of children permitted at a time.

For the time being, kids in the fourth grade and above will continue to study remotely for five days a week.

The Education Ministry plan lays out strict social distancing and hygiene instructions for schoolchildren returning to class: desks must be placed two meters apart; students are to refrain from any physical contact; staff and students in second and third grade will be required to wear masks while outside the classroom.

Kindergartens are not bound by social distancing rules, though teachers are advised to spread the children out as much as possible.

The plan says that two meters of space should be kept, where possible, between each person in classrooms and on school grounds and students must be instructed not to touch one another, not to pass objects around and not to share food. Parents will not be permitted to enter school buildings.

Parents will also have to sign health forms clearing kids of the coronavirus. Children who are at high risk , or have an immediate family member who is ill or is at  high risk, may not go to school, the plan says.

It is unclear if there is a plan for those children to still continue distance learning.

For kindergartens and preschools, the children will be split into two groups of up to 17 children, with the first group coming in on Sunday to Tuesday and the second group on Wednesday to Friday.

The proposal still requires final government approval.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the plan is dependent on infections remaining low and on research being conducted for the Health Ministry on infection rates among children.

Ministers are expected to reevaluate the situation on Friday and, barring a spike in the number of cases, give the plan a final nod.

The move to reopen schools came as Israel took its biggest steps toward reopening the economy this week, allowing many nonessential businesses to reopen for the first time in a month, as new virus cases and the numbers of seriously ill have steadily declined.

In Israel, where most parents both work full-time, reopening the economy necessitates a solution for younger children who cannot be left unsupervised. The Bank of Israel said last week that the shutdown of the education system was costing the economy around NIS 2.6 billion ($737 million) per week, as many households have had to keep one parent tending to children instead of working.

Schools have been shut since mid-March as the government began imposing wide restrictions on movement in a bid to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Most teachers have continued to teach via teleconferencing, though the program has been met with reports of only middling success.

Israel has seen the number of daily cases decline in the past week. There have been 219 deaths and 15,870 infections.