Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced this evening (Sunday) the extension of the school year until the end of July - for all age groups.
In a statement issued by the Ministry of Education, the Prime Minister said: "The gradual opening of schools will take place in the coming days in yellow and green cities, also for grades 7-10. In addition, it is necessary to fill the educational gaps that have arisen - the Minister of Education and I are presenting a principled outline for extending the school year in July as well.".
'"We must give children the opportunity they have been missing. We will take care of teachers' rights, we will ensure full payment for them, that's on me. I take responsibility for this along with the Minister of Education and the Minister of Finance. This is what is required for the children of Israel, this is what they deserve.".
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Netanyahu promised: "We will bring another 36 million vaccines against the coronavirus in the coming year, in case we need to be vaccinated in another six months, and then another six months.".
Netanyahu referred to the Purim celebrations, saying: "It is impossible to tolerate the violations, neither by the secular nor by the tyrants. There is no reason not to observe the rules.".
Regarding the Exceptions Committee and the criticism against it, the Prime Minister said: "Regarding the Exceptions Committee, it is a professional committee of government ministries, which reviews 4,000 applications a day. What we saw in television reports about people bypassing the committee and violating the law - this is intolerable and we will act against it.".
He added: "I emphasize - the committee operates professionally. The committee is staffed by legal advisors from the various ministries, and they have no idea whether the applicant is secular or Haredi. They do not give benefits to anyone. You can photograph a plane coming from New York that is full of Haredi, but you do not photograph a plane coming from Europe that is almost completely devoid of Haredi. This is not a regime that selects people. Everything goes according to requests, and I ask that these things be upheld and not to blame one group for another, at a time when we need to join forces and emerge from the coronavirus together.".
Education Minister Yoav Galant said in presenting the outline: "Today we are announcing the first part of the four-part national program to reduce gaps in education. The program will be available to students in grades 1-11 and kindergarten students; in July, the main effort will be focused on closing the gaps in math, English, language and science. There will be an emphasis on reducing emotional gaps.".
The chairman of the teachers' union, Ran Erez, said after the statements: "I ask teachers to join forces and work in July to close gaps, according to their professional judgment. It is clear that this will be paid voluntary work and those who do not want to will not be punished.".
The Secretary-General of the Teachers' Union, Yaffe Ben-David, said that the current school year will end as planned: "Following recent publications on the subject of extending school hours in July - I would like to clarify that the position of the Teachers' Union has not changed: the school year will end in the Jewish High School on Sunday, June 20, 2021; in kindergartens and elementary schools on Wednesday, June 30, 2021.".
""The most correct solution is for the state to operate the summer school program, as it has done successfully in previous years. The Teachers' Union will continue to care for and protect the rights of teaching staff.".
