More than 2.5 million Israeli children went back to school on Monday, with about 180,000 attending first grade and 149,000 starting their last year of school, according to data released by the Education Ministry.
Some 340,000 children will begin their studies in kindergarten (mandatory year), and 193,000 in pre-kindergarten.
The ultra-Orthodox sector registered 582,000 pupils this year, with 579,000 registered in the Arab sector.
Around 248,000 teaching staff returned to work in 5,807 schools and 21,600 pre-schools throughout the country.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Education Minister Yoav Kisch arrived this morning at the Menachem Begin Elementary School in Nof Hagalil (the city was formerly known as Upper Nazareth) to greet the children.
“Menachem Begin loved the Land of Israel very much, I’m sure you do too,” Netanyahu told the children, according to broadcaster Channel 14.
He then asked, “Who does this land belong to?”—to which the pupils replied: “Us.”
President Isaac Herzog made a trip to several schools in the north, among them the Rambam and Danciger Schools in Kiryat Shmona, followed by visits to a school in the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee paid a visit to the Eshkol Elementary School in the “Gaza Envelope,” a few miles east of the Gaza Strip.
“Very bad people tried to stop you from starting this day, but one of the things I appreciate most about Israelis: No matter how many times they try to stop you—you get up right away and continue,” Huckabee told the pupils, according to outlet Arutz 7.
Echoes of explosions from the Gaza Strip could be heard in the school, Ynet reported.
Israel has recently expanded the fighting in the Palestinian enclave in a bid to defeat Hamas and free the remaining hostages.
The “Gaza Envelope,” consisting of five regional council areas, has recorded an 8% year-on-year increase in the number of students attending educational institutions starting Sep. 1, according to the Tkuma Directorate, a government agency responsible for the rehabilitation of the region damaged during the Hamas-led invasion and massacre on Oct. 7, 2023.
In total, 23,522 children are back in school in the area, 1,763 more than the previous year.
Aviad Freidman, director general of the directorate, said: “We are experiencing an increase in the number of students, which on one hand reflects the return of most residents of the region to their homes and of many students to their classrooms. On the other hand, a 28% rise in the birth-to-age-3 group, with a thousand new infants and toddlers, is proof that life is stronger than anything. The region is growing and being rebuilt.
He added, “We await the completion of restoration work and the return of residents whose homes have not yet been repaired, in [kibbutzim] Nir Oz, Be’eri, Kissufim, Holit and Kfar Aza, and we believe the region will continue to grow and thrive with their return.”
In Israel’s north adjacent to the Lebanese border, schools reopened as normal in the wake of the war in Lebanon last year, which forced tens of thousands of residents to evacuate the area.
Some 90% of the displaced pupils and 97% of the education staff have returned to schools and pre-schools in the northern region, according to the Education Ministry.
Three elementary schools in Metula, Kiryat Shmona and Betzet, however, have not opened, and more than 30 kindergartens have been shut down, according to Ynet.
In northern Samaria, a pre-school opened in the town of Homesh for the first time in 20 years, with 20 children, the report continued.
The Jewish town, which was evacuated in 2005 under Israel’s so-called “Disengagement Plan,” has since been rebuilt with 20 families settling in, Ynet reported.
Ayala Levi, the kindergarten teacher who was let go during the evacuation, participated in the opening ceremony of the new kindergarten on Sunday.
Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, who was also present in the ceremony, was quoted as saying: “The disengagement [plan] is dead. Am Yisrael Chai! This is a moment of sweet victory for the people of Israel and Zionism. Justice always prevails. Even if it takes 20 years, it eventually comes.”
