Israel on Monday voted to reopen high schools in local authorities with high coronavirus infection rates remotely as ministers are still trying to map out an outline for a new school year, with just days to go until the planned reopening.
The coronavirus cabinet last week decided to reopen schools on September 1 as scheduled despite the surge of coronavirus in the country.
According to last week's outline, in "red" communities, students in grades eight through 12 will be forced to study remotely from October unless at least 70% of the pupils are vaccinated or have recovered from COVID.
Monday's decision essentially pushes forward the start of remote studies by a month, from October 1 to September 1.
Education Minister Yifat Shasha-Biton and Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz argued that starting the remote studies in September would harm students from low socio-economic backgrounds, who would not be able to learn properly.
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A child receives her coronavirus vaccine booster shot at a facility in Tel Aviv
(Photo: Reuters)
During a meeting, however, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett rejected Shasha-Biton's proposal, saying that allowing high school students in red cities to study in class for a month would lead to another mass COVID outbreak.
Later in the day, Bennett will hold another coronavirus cabinet in an effort to approve the expansion of the Green Pass mandate to public sector workers, including teaching staff, as well as the outline for holding Selichot prayers at the Western Wall.