Home Front Command okays most schools to return to normal Wednesday

Schools throughout much of Israel will be able to open as usual starting tomorrow, including in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa, according to new guidelines from the Home Front Command today. Previously in these areas, a combination of distance learning and in-person activity, depending on access to bomb shelters and staffing, was permitted.

The directive applies to K-12 schools in “most of the country,” but excludes the western Negev, Ashkelon, Ashdod and other areas around Gaza, where in-person learning is still banned. Other areas such as along the Lebanon border, the Golan and the central Negev will continue to allow in-person learning under what are called safe security conditions, combined with distance learning.

This latest directive is technically only in place until 6 p.m. Thursday, October 26.

The Jerusalem Municipality has announced that schools will be open tomorrow, and in Tel Aviv, the municipality said that until the end of the week they would only allow schools to open that had adequate protection for all students.

Around one in five schools nationwide don’t have adequate bomb shelter space for all students and staff, according to a Ynet report today.

Since the Israel-Hamas war began several weeks ago, the Education Ministry, in conjunction with Home Front Command, has issued a series of statements implementing distance-learning and/or in-person school activities in various locations, using a color-coded system which has changed as the security situation has developed.

The entire educational system is still suffering from a staff shortage caused by the massive call-up of IDF reservists, and dealing with tens of thousands of displaced students, who have been evacuated from communities around Gaza and along the Lebanon border.