The Health Ministry said that preschools should remain closed for another week or two, but elementary schools can resume activity for students up to the third grade starting Sunday, a source within the ministry said on Thursday.
“We’ve seen great results on the national infection map, and we can take this step and wait with preschools until the next round when our [national] health will be a week or two along," said the source. "The group that is safest to start with are first to third graders.”
Officials reportedly fear that young children will be unable to maintain necessary social distancing or hygiene standards, and keeping groups of 15 children separate from each other could prove a difficult task for teachers.
In response to the slow reopening of the country's education system, hundreds of education workers protested at Tel Aviv's Habima Square Thursday evening calling for the government to devise a clear and thorough exit strategy and provide adequate financial assistance for the reopening of preschools.
Health Ministry officials objected to reopening daycare centers and preschools, stating "amounting experience from around the world" which indicates such an action could put children at risk as the threat of coronavirus still looms.
Moreover, representatives from other ministries said they won’t be able to reopen facilities since no concrete instructions were yet provided to education teams.
According to reports, Health Ministry Director-General Moshe Bar Siman Tov is pushing for preschools to remain shuttered, as he prefers studying to take place in the summer.
Finance and Education ministry officials, as well as local authorities, advocate for reopening of preschools without limiting the number of students to 15.
The government is expected to make a final decision on Friday after it will receive a report on the matter from the Gertner Institute - an Israeli epidemiology and health policy research group.