The Education Ministry has also opened a new control center with new technological systems and 100 employees to continuously process information from the field and the Health Ministry and closely monitor and handle infection rates in the school system on different levels.As of Tuesday, 1,366 kindergarteners and students were infected with the coronavirus, according to an update by the Education Ministry. Some seven schools and 209 kindergartens were closed due to infection rates.
Here is what parents and students could expect if the plan is approved:
>First and second grades will learn in full classes, five days per week for five hours each day.
>Third and fourth grades will learn without any changes, with students learning in set groups of up to 20 students, five days per week for five hours each day.
>Fifth and sixth grades will learn in set groups of up to 20 students, at least three days per week for at least 14 hours each week. No transfers may occur between groups.
>11th and 12th grades will learn in groups of up to 20 students, at least two days per week. Students may only pass between up to two groups.
>Afternoon care will be allowed for first and second grade students on condition that they stay within the classes they were present in during school, without any transfer between groups.
>Educational activities will be allowed outdoors with up to 19 students. Social meetings will be allowed in open areas in groups of up to 19 students and one teacher for students in seventh to 10th grades who will not be able to return to physical classes as part of the new plan.
>Increasing the number of students in a group beyond 20 students will be allowed in exceptional cases, as long as the total number of the larger group does not include more than 10% of the existing classes from before the decision to increase. Increases to 22 students can be approved by the director-general of the Education Ministry while increases to 24 students can only be approved by Education Minister Yoav Gallant.
>Each teacher may teach in up to four different groups of students.
>Sports and gym teachers may teach more than four different groups of students as long as classes are held outdoors or in a sports hall while wearing a mask and keeping at least two meters from students.
>School buses will continue as they are without changes according to regulations approved in the past for school buses during the coronavirus period.
>The Education Ministry recommends setting aside additional rooms for teachers to be present in outside of classes in order to prevent crowding in the teachers' room.
>Day trips will be allowed to educational institutions which are allowed to function according to Health Ministry regulations, subject to trip regulations for the coronavirus period. Regulations concerning allowing a security guard and medic to accompany such trips will be made in the future.
>Frontal Hebrew classes for new immigrants and students in the Naale program will be allowed in groups of up to 20 students subject to guidelines made for Hebrew studies for immigrants in grades 5-12 for the coronavirus period.
>The education system will emphasize Health Ministry rules and recommendations including wearing masks, ventilating classrooms, social distancing and personal hygiene.
>External operators and anyone who is not an integral part of the school staff will not be allowed into the school, except for specified exceptions. Psychologists from the educational psychological service of the local authority of the educational institution will be allowed to enter the school.