Israeli teachers union announces strike due to change in quarantine policy
Jan 27, 2022
Jerusalem (Israel), January 27: The Israel Teachers Union Wednesday announced the shutdown of schools and kindergartens starting from Thursday, in response to the government's decision to change the quarantine policy of students.
Under the government's new outline, planned to take effect on Thursday, a student exposed to a confirmed COVID-19 patient will no longer need to enter quarantine if tested negative by a home antigen test.
"Due to the government's decision to expose you to the virus in a way that endangers your health and following thousands of requests by teachers, protest measures will be taken on Thursday, and schools and kindergartens should not be attended," the union's secretary-general Yaffa Ben-David wrote to the Israeli teachers.
The government's decision aims to change the current situation in which tens of thousands of children in Israel are in quarantine though never infected with the virus. Meanwhile, all students are required to perform two antigen tests every week.
The announcement does not include high school teachers, who are represented by a separate union, but the classes are still uncertain as their union also opposes the change.
Source: Xinhua
