Thousands of students in northern Israel were evacuated from their homes that were within reach of rockets fired from Lebanon, and others who were not evacuated have spent months studying under the threat of rocket attacks and interrupting their studies while running to protected areas during rocket alert sirens. In both cases the students have lost another school year due to a lack of hours of study, teachers and educational and emotional support.
As the war continues unabated, the Education Ministry is preparing for the upcoming school year in the north with two scenarios due to the uncertainty and security concerns.
According to Education Minister Yoav Kisch, the ministry is planning for double registration of students in their original schools in the northern authorities and registration in back-up schools that have been or will be opened in the authorities to which families have been evacuated.
“We have set August 1 as the deadline for deciding how the school year will open in one of the two scenarios,” Kisch said. “This decision is subject to change based on the situation.” He added that 140 million shekels have been allocated for establishing schools for students from authorities who have not been evacuated but are within Hezbollah’s rocket range.
To grasp the scope of the problem, some 16,710 students have been evacuated from northern communities across the country – about 9,000 of them were relocated to communities within the northern district and the rest to other districts. For example, 684 students are enrolled in eight relocated schools, 3,168 are learning in 60 community centers, 4,044 are placed in existing schools, 1,016 in six temporary schools, and 950 children in kindergartens or daycare centers that have been placed in existing institutions or community centers.
In a recent Knesset Education Committee discussion, officials in the north noted that, due to parental uncertainty and after many experienced the benefits of education systems in central authorities, there is a concern that more than 30% of students may not return to their original schools.
Because of the uncertainty, many parents are unsure where to register their children – whether in the community to which they have evacuated or to wait until a decision about returning is made. Organizational consultant Orit Degani Dinisman, who participated in the committee discussion, said that education is fundamental to parents' decisions about where to live. Currently, the alternatives offered are not satisfactory, and parents do not trust the stability of the system.