With less than three weeks until the start of the new school year on September 1, parents, teachers and local authorities alike still have a slew of unanswered questions regarding the government's outline as coronavirus infections keep surging at an alarming rate.
The outline was formulated by education, health and defense ministries, alongside the Prime Minister's Office, and since it was introduced to the public has come under scrutiny for providing a lack of protection for children against exposure to coronavirus.
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An archive picture showing students returning to school in the midst of coronavirus
(Photo: Yariv Katz)
According to the outline, some 1.6 million students - from kindergarten to sixth grade - will be asked to undergo serological testing at schools, meant to verify past COVID exposure by measuring antibody levels.
Those found to have recovered from the pathogen at some point in the past will receive a Green Pass, meaning they will be exempt from a two week isolation in case of exposure to a verified patient.
The government will also provide rapid testing kits for students, who will be obligated to test themselves for COVID at least 48 hours before the start of the school year.
In local auhtorities classified as red or orange, where the infection rate is considered high, students will undergo COVID testing once a week.
In green and yellow local auhtorities where the infection rate is lower, a verified student will be sent to self-isolate, while students and staffers exposed to a carrier will continue to come to school where they will undergo daily COVID tests for one week.
Many parents have already said they will prefer to leave their children at home for the week, instead of subjecting them to daily tests.
The Education Ministry estimates that dozens of teachers will also refuse to undergo daily COVID testing, and will instead prefer to stay at home.
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An archive picture showing students in class in the midst of COVID
(Photo: Yariv Katz)
In addition, local authorities' officials said it will not be possible to test more than a million students, or provide home testing kits to millions more before the start of the school year, since the ministries of education and health failed to add to the outline how schools are supposed to actually do that.
Another issue lies in the reliability of the rapid testing kits, 30-45% of which return negative if the patient is non-symptomatic, and about 15-30% of which return negative for symptomatic patients.
The Education Ministry itself estimated that at least 30% of all parents will falsify their children’s test results or will not perform the home test at all.
The Health Ministry, meanwhile, announced it has already chosen a provider for both serological testing and the home testing kits for students. In reality though, the tender is still in the early stages of being formulated.
In the meantime, there is a significant shortage of serological testing kits in the country. Currently, the Health Ministry has 50,000 serological testing kits at its disposal, with another 250,000 already purchased and expected to arrive in Israel in the coming days.
The ministries also promised the recruitment of "COVID trustees" at each educational institution, who will monitor classes and ensure the education outline is adhered to. In reality though, the recruitment drive and the training program are yet to begin.