At the end of a professional discussion, the Municipality of Haifa announced that it is prepared for the start of school this coming Sunday (1/11/20) in a full format of five days of study for grades XNUMX-XNUMX, and three days of activity for grades XNUMX-XNUMX, divided into "Capsules".
As soon as the Corona cabinet decided to move to the second phase, the education administration began preparing for the next phase of returning to normal. According to the mayor's guidance, the education administration in the municipality formulated an outline that allows students to return to classrooms and learning spaces, while maintaining the guidelines of the Ministry of Education and Health. Focused attention was given to 11th-12th grade students who need a restful and emotional meeting as they stand at the threshold of matriculation exams and recruitment to the IDF, as well as to 1st-2nd grades who, according to the Corona Cabinet plan, were supposed to return to only three days of school.
3th - XNUMXth grades • XNUMX days a week
This morning, she announced Holder of the education portfolio, Sigal Zioni, because thinking and preparation was done ahead of time and the students of grades 11-12 will return on Sunday to an educational framework of three days a week. The educational activity will be defined as an educational activity that will take place in cooperation with the cultural and sports institutions in the city: the museums, the sailing center, the zoo, the municipal theater, the Haifa Cinematheque, the sports centers and more. All activity will take place in accordance with the guidelines of the Ministry of Health - in open spaces, in small groups. The rest of the study days will take place in distance learning.
Grades 5 to XNUMX • XNUMX days a week
It was also decided that the students of grades 5-XNUMX will return to school within the framework of five full school days, XNUMX hours of study each day. All classes will learn in the framework of "capsules". Immediately at the end of the studies, the municipal community system will be opened in the schools (afternoons and clubs) in accordance with the outline approved by the Ministry of Education and Health.
The Mayor of Haifa, Einat Kalish Rotem:
It is our duty to make supreme efforts to return the children of Haifa to a sane and healthy routine, within the educational institutions. The students of grades 1-2 started the school year - and in a short time it was taken away from them. The students of grades 11-12 have begun their academic preparation for the matriculation exams and are preparing to be drafted into the IDF - and found themselves sitting for hours and hours in front of lessons on "Zoom". Now that it has been decided to return the system to activity, we in Haifa are obliged to give the students All the tools to get back to a sane routine.
A decision that is part of the general circus called the Ministry of Education. Within one week, 330 kindergartens were infected and 50 were closed. Kindergartens for 35 children were approved and even for one between 3 kindergartens. This is a complete scandal. No capsules, no social distancing, no plan. The lives of tens of thousands of kindergarteners and teachers are being neglected. Now adding to the promiscuity are large groups of teenagers, who will of course go together and travel together to activities around the city. Dozens and maybe hundreds will crowd together in the Cinematech hall for a pre-emptive activity - pre-emptive of what? They go to the beach, people sit in parks and they study online - what exactly should they be relieved of?? Who will finance this activity? And what does it contribute to their studies?
The education system with its pants down. For a whole month it was possible to prepare an outline for a responsible opening of the entire education system with a reduction of classes to 15 students, ventilated and without contact between teachers in two rounds of 8-12 and 12:30-16:30
And these groups will be separated by partitions, by ventilation, at a distance with masks and will be sampled for quick tests at the end of the school day. This is what responsible countries do. This is how schools are fully opened. Grade students go to breaks at different times from each other, go back and forth from school in staggered hours to avoid overcrowding in the corridors, and receive reinforcement online.
But all our geniuses, including hundreds of directors of the Ministry of Education and heads of departments with huge salaries, could not see and adopt such solutions from the world. They invent nonsense - studying outside, preaching activity in cultural institutions. Illusory inventions that are not suitable for tens of thousands of students and create confusion and an even higher infection potential.
It's just embarrassing to see the complete unpreparedness of our education system. Online learning is here to stay and not going anywhere. The children can be taught programming and online literacy skills remotely. The activity of the sports hours can be transferred in fitness exercises via zoom like personal trainers. The protest activity can be organized in small groups of 5-10 in the school grounds in the afternoon and find volunteer activities and help for the schools in the lower grades.
It just seems that there is no thinking in the education system. Maybe they weren't taught to think..
There is a lot of justice in your words. There is no thinking outside the box, no desire to make an ideological and financial effort to find creative solutions. Great disappointment in the behavior of those responsible for the education and well-being of children of all ages. Your ideas are good. It's a shame you're not in a team that trusts education.
Most are at home
11th and 12th grades, the social aspect is very important, but taking three days that will be activity days without studies, what we will have left to study is really not clear.
What are the rules? Does everyone go out together? Or in capsules?