Summer school programs to be extended after weeks of wartime closures
Activities for elementary students to run 3 extra weeks, expand till 6th grade, says Education Ministry; middle school catch-up plan seeks to address gaps caused by Iran conflict
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleAriela Karmel is a political correspondent at The Times of Israel. She previously reported for Calcalist and Haaretz. She holds an MA in Middle Eastern and African History from Tel Aviv University and a BA in Political Science from the University of British Columbia.
The Education Ministry will extend state-subsidized summer programming for kindergarten to third grade by three weeks and expand it to include students through sixth grade, as well as launch a summer academic catch-up program for middle-school students, following five weeks of school closures due to the war with Iran, Education Minister Yoav Kisch said in a statement Thursday.
“In light of the gaps that accumulated during the war, I instructed the ministry to extend summer programming by three weeks, expand services to all elementary school students up to sixth grade, and launch the ‘Summer Preparatory Program’ for middle schools, which will help fill in the gaps and provide a stable and supportive framework for students,” Kisch said in a statement while visiting a school in Rishon Lezion.
He added that the expanded programming is intended to provide “educational, emotional, and social continuity for Israel’s students during the summer months” after the disruption to the school year due to the war.
The initiative is expected to cost approximately NIS 750 million ($242 million). However, according to Hebrew media reports, this figure has not been coordinated with the Finance Ministry, and it remains unclear whether the funding will be approved.
The subsidized elementary-school program, which functions much like a day camp, typically runs for about three weeks for kindergarten through third-grade students, but will now be expanded.
The new middle-school program, by contrast, is designed as an academic catch-up framework to help students make up for lost learning time.
The announcement comes after the IDF Home Front Command announced Wednesday evening that wartime restrictions would be lifted across most of Israel starting Thursday, as a fragile ceasefire in the US-Israeli war with Iran took hold, allowing schools to reopen and resume functioning normally for the first time since February 28, when the war began.
The country’s roughly 2.5 million children will be returning to the classroom after being stuck at home for five weeks, with some limited remote studies, though some restrictions will remain in place in northern Israel due to the threat of Hezbollah rocket fire from Lebanon.
The Times of Israel Community.