Hello first grade, hello home: 2.6 million return to school - in hope of routine and quiet

2.6 million kindergarten and school children are returning to school tomorrow (Monday), at the end of the summer vacation. Without threats of sanctions or strikes from the teachers' unions. Among the students returning to school are 180,000 who have parted from the greenhouse of kindergartens and will begin their studies in first grade - in a 12-year journey. On the other hand, 143,000 12th-grade students will begin their final year in the education system. Data from the Ministry of Education shows that 418,385 students, representing about 16% of all students, are eligible for special education services - a figure that represents an increase of 9% compared to last year. The education system has 27,757 educational institutions, including 21,800 kindergartens and 5,957 schools. The Ministry of Education said that the first week of the school year will be dedicated to strengthening the sense of belonging, social ties, and trust between students themselves and between them and the educational staff. Alongside the renewed acquaintance with the framework, space will be given to emotional and social discourse, identifying needs, strengthening personal and group resilience, deepening social cohesion, and preventing situations of violence, social rejection, and boycotts in the physical and digital space.

"It's fun to return to our home"

After almost three years of evacuation, upheaval, and moving between homes, children in the Gaza envelope settlements will return to school routine tomorrow, some of them for the first time at home. For Galia from Nahal Oz, Ori from Holit, and Alma from Kissufim, entering first grade is not just the beginning of a new chapter, but also another moment in the journey home. Galia Tibon, six years old from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, will enter first grade at the "Alonim" school in Sha'ar HaNegev. Last summer, she returned with her family to the kibbutz after two and a half years in Mishmar HaEmek, where they were evacuated after the massacre. Her parents, Amir and Miri, knew all along that they wanted their daughter to start her first year of school - at home. Galia is already preparing. She knows how to read simple sentences, solves math problems, and imagines herself in the classroom. But alongside the excitement, there are also memories. She calls October 7th "the scary Saturday," and ahead of the new year, she asked for only one thing: that there would be no sirens. When asked what she wishes for herself in first grade, she answers: "That I have a nice teacher and that she tells me 'what a good student you are, Galia.' That it will be interesting for me in class and fun at recess." She is happy to return to Nahal Oz. "It's fun to return to our home, to eat ice cream on the balcony with my sister and take a bath," says Galia, and tells that what she likes most about the kibbutz is "buying a popsicle at the grocery store and going to the pool." Behind these small experiences lies a big change for the family and for the entire kibbutz. About 70% of the residents of Nahal Oz have already returned, but for her father Amir, this figure also tells of a kibbutz that has not yet returned to what it was: "It might sound impressive, but in practice, it means that one out of three people did not return. It's a big hole in the heart that takes time to get used to. Some of our friends returned and some did not. We love everyone and understand every decision."

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Without all the friends

In the small Kibbutz Holit, there is also a child taking the first step in the education system, from a reality that has changed completely. Ori Sultan, five and a half years old, will enter first grade at the "Sdot Eshkol" school. On October 7th, his grandfather and grandmother, Roland and Ronit Sultan, of blessed memory, were murdered, and his family returned to the kibbutz only this month after a long period of evacuation outside the home. For Ori's parents, Adam and Nir, the decision to return to Holit was almost self-evident. "There was no real doubt here," says the mother, Nir, "Throughout the whole period, we had a sentence that we repeated with the children: 'Home is where we are all together as a family.' But we knew that in the end, we would return home, to Holit." "Ori is starting the year without some of his friends, who remained in the place where we were evacuated," adds Nir, "We are giving him a lot of backing, introducing him to new friends, and trying to show him the other side too: he is arriving first and can prepare the ground for his friends, and when they return, he will already be able to help them integrate." But alongside the attempt to give their son confidence, the parents themselves are dealing with concerns: "Sending a child to first grade is not an easy moment for a mother anyway. Suddenly he is big, he needs to be independent, and you need to let go. Now add to that all the legitimate concerns of returning to the Gaza envelope: if it will be safe, how the travel will be, how he will manage, and what will happen if the security situation deteriorates again." Ori, for his part, says that he is "excited to enter first grade. I am most looking forward to learning to read and also math, and I am not afraid of anything at all. Returning to Holit feels a bit strange because my friends will not be with me at first in the same school." He says that what he likes most about home is playing in the kibbutz, jumping and diving in the pool, and eating clementines and strawberries from the trees, but he also knows exactly what he is missing: "I want there to be lots of trampolines in every corner."

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Alma's memory of 7/10

A few kilometers from there, in Kissufim, six-year-old Alma Handler will enter first grade at the "Shachar Eshkol" school. She, her parents Maayan and Liav, and her three older siblings returned to the kibbutz last month. "We haven't unpacked the things yet," says Maayan. The return to Kissufim brings up difficult memories. On October 7th, the family was split up. Liav was abroad, Maayan was at home with the eldest son Adam and little Alma, and the other two children were at her parents' in the kibbutz. "From seven-thirty in the morning, I heard terrorists outside the house, and the three of us locked ourselves in the safe room (MAMAD)," recalls Maayan, "I was cut off from contact until we were rescued. During this time, they also shot at me from the window, and terrorists also entered our house." "This experience greatly affected Alma," she adds, "It took her a long time to progress. She went backward, like to infancy, was attached to me, afraid, didn't let go, she had a language delay. Today she is after treatments and in a slightly different place. We still have more work, but she is entering first grade and she is excited about it." Alma remembers well what happened that day. About a year ago, they held a ceremony in Kissufim with the soldiers who evacuated the residents, and she approached one of the soldiers and recognized him. "She told him, 'You gave me the chocolate,'" says the mother, "There was a soldier who gave her chocolate to calm her down. I didn't remember that. My neighbor remembers that she opened the wrapper for her." Now she is entering first grade in the kibbutz, while the reality is still not completely quiet. Maayan says that "we still hear the fighting and the fear still exists. But apparently, there is some nature of man to try to hold on to the small things that decorate his life, making it more beautiful or safer. She walks here on the lawns and she is happier than when we were evacuated. At first, she didn't want to start school, she said she was still small. Now she is really excited to start and is not afraid of it." Alma herself says that what excites her most about school is meeting friends. "I don't want to be in many lessons," she says and adds: "I liked the big house and the old grocery store." And what does she think will be the most fun in first grade? "This shelter that if there is a siren, you go to it and there are games in it."

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3 years, 3 schools

The opening of the school year at the legendary "HaNadiv" school in Metula, which is celebrating 130 years since its founding, is especially exciting. The school had been closed since October 2023, and throughout the war, it was hit again and again by Hezbollah fire - and was also damaged by the ravages of time while it stood still. This morning, 36 students will begin studying there, and 18 children will enter the kindergarten next to it. One of the students is Alma Asur, who is entering third grade this morning, and is starting a new year in a new school for the third time. After being evacuated on October 7th from her home in the moshav, she moved to Kibbutz Maoz Haim in the Beit She'an Valley, and later wandered to the "Alei Giva" school in Kfar Giladi. "I am very happy and it seems to me that it is a better school because it has a very cool play area, a library, and a music and art room," says Alma with excitement, "I wish myself that I will be happy there, meet new friends, and have fun." Her mother, Yaara, who herself studied as a child in the old school, is no less excited. "Alma is starting a new school for the third time and this time I hope it is final," she says with a worried smile, "There are some concerns about the social aspect. The class is multi-age. They are only three children in the grade, and therefore they will study together with the fourth grade, in which there are ten children. We initially had a dilemma whether to return to Metula and we were very happy to return home, the heart remained here throughout the evacuation. The last campaign against Iran was not easy, but I hope it is behind us." Joining Alma is Lehav Shtilman from Kibbutz Maayan Baruch, who is entering first grade. "I have a Bambi backpack and a pencil case and a bottle, and we bought shirts today with a school emblem," she shares with a rolling laugh, "I am waiting to hear the bells because they told me that every time there is a bell, you go out to recess, and when there is a bell again, you have to return to class. Mom told me that she used to walk home every day from school and that she had a lot of fun." The mother, Efrat, chose to send her daughter to the school right by the fence in an area that is "most of the time a paradise," but in recent decades, and especially since Hezbollah's plans to conquer the Galilee were revealed, could have become a hell. "It feels like a safe place to me," she says, "I live 400 meters from the border. Although we didn't get hit in the kibbutz like in Metula, we also live the security tension. To anyone who is afraid to live here, I say that maybe the North is not the best place for him to raise children, but in my opinion, it is a paradise and we are not afraid to live here." Behind Efrat's choice to send Lehav to the "HaNadiv" school is a moving closing of a circle: "I grew up in Metula and studied at 'HaNadiv' and my father also studied there as a child, and now Lehav will study. I wanted a small school with more spotlight on the children, and an adaptation of the curriculum to the student and not the other way around. The new principal is amazing and I trust her very much. The education system is quite collapsing in the North following the evacuation and the war, they demand a lot from the teachers and there is terrible crowding in the classes. In Metula, the investment is felt much more." After undergoing extensive rehabilitation, the "HaNadiv" school recruited a new educational staff and also absorbed children from the nearby settlements. To attract teaching staff, a joint project of the "Tnufa LaTzafon" administration and the Ministry of Education offered grants of 60,000 shekels to teachers who move North and meet the criteria. The new school principal, Ida Kogan, says: "We worked around the clock to reach this moment. The school children will enjoy an extensive educational envelope and an optimal response, one of the best in the country." The director of the Northern District of the Ministry of Education, Dr. Orna Simhon, adds that "seeing the children of Metula entering the school gates in their settlement again is a great excitement for all of us." The head of the Metula Council, David Azulai, also prepared for this day like a holiday: "We went through a very long and complex period. Opening the educational institutions is the real victory."