After Passover – not in regular classes: Israel is being prepared for capsules, and the debate about schools has already reached Netanyahu’s level

The Israeli education system is once again entering a state of uncertainty. As of April 6, 2026, the Ministry of Education indicates: there will be no drastic changes this coming Thursday and Friday unless the Home Front Command updates its instructions. However, a full transition to the new learning model is likely to begin no earlier than Sunday. It is then that the authorities plan to launch the capsule format, where some students will return to schools, while others will continue to study remotely.

But behind this seemingly technical news lies a much harsher conflict. In Jerusalem, the debate is no longer just about how to distribute children between classes and online platforms, but about money, authority, collective agreements, and who even has the right to decide whether missed days should be considered school days or moved to the summer.

Why Israel is not immediately returning schools to normal mode

Thursday and Friday will follow the old scheme

Education Minister Yoav Kish announced that in the next two days, the system will continue to operate in the format that was in place before the holiday. This means that there will be no sharp return to the usual in-person learning yet, but a complete reboot of the rules is also not expected right now. Everything still depends on the instructions of Pikud Ha-Oref, which means the final decision remains tied to the threat level in specific areas of the country.

At the same time, the ministry emphasizes that even in conditions of uncertainty, existing solutions for special education, at-risk teenagers, and informal employment programs will not be rolled back. For many families, this is a crucial point because these categories depend more than others on a stable framework and constant support.

What are capsules and why they want to include them only from Sunday

This is a hybrid model that is well remembered in Israel from previous crisis periods. The discussed plan suggests that in the first stage, approximately 30% to 50% of students will be able to return to schools, while the rest will continue to study remotely. Further rotation is possible: today one group comes to classes, tomorrow another, and all other times the system relies on a combination of in-person lessons, Zoom, and local municipal solutions.

Authorities view this format as an interim compromise, not as a return to normal school life. It is needed to increase the physical presence of children in educational institutions but not to violate safety restrictions or push schools into a mode they are not ready for, neither in terms of shelters nor human resources.

That is why the launch is possible only after additional discussion at the highest level. The issue is not only about the teaching methodology but also about how protected specific schools are in the center of the country, in Jerusalem, in Haifa, in the southern regions, and in localities where any alarm immediately disrupts the entire school schedule.

Why the school issue has become a political fight

Smotrich demands a different scenario

Simultaneously, an even sharper conflict is developing. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is promoting the idea that if the situation after Passover does not allow for the restoration of in-person learning, the education system should not be indefinitely kept in a weak remote mode. According to this logic, such days can be declared as actual holidays and then require their return in the summer by reducing the long school break.

The argument from the Ministry of Finance is extremely pragmatic. They believe that prolonged remote learning works poorly, affects the quality of education, prevents parents from working fully, and ultimately costs the Israeli economy billions of shekels. In other words, Smotrich shifts the debate from the school plane to the plane of economic recovery, employment, and budget.

But it is here that the clash with the position of the Minister of Education begins. Yoav Kish, on the contrary, is trying to promote the expansion of the in-person component through capsules, not through the actual closure of the system with a promise to compensate for everything later. For him, capsules are a way to keep the educational process alive. For his opponents, it is just a postponement of a decision that will still have to be made.

Why teachers are already talking about breaking the law

Another line of conflict runs through the unions. Teacher organizations warn that an attempt to unilaterally move days to the summer may mean a direct violation of collective agreements. The general secretary of the teachers’ union, Yaffa Ben-David, has already indicated that she is ready to fight against such a step by all available means, including legal action.

The head of the high school teachers’ organization, Ran Erez, went even further and called the very idea illegal. From his point of view, even remote learning in the current conditions is better than the complete disappearance of the educational framework because without it, teenagers are left without a routine, control, and normal daily rhythm.

As a result, the debate around schools in Israel no longer looks like an ordinary bureaucratic discussion between departments. It is already a conflict about who, in wartime conditions, determines the cost of a school day, how much the state is obliged to adhere to agreements with education system workers, and whether the economic damage to the labor market can be shifted to the school calendar.

That is why NAnews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency draws attention not only to the capsules themselves but also to the political background of what is happening. When the issue of classes after Passover is brought to the level of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense, the Minister of Finance, and the Minister of Education simultaneously, it means that the system has entered not just a period of temporary correction but a phase of a full-fledged state dispute.

What this means for Israeli families after Passover

Parents are waiting not for statements, but for a clear schedule

For families in Holon, Bat Yam, Rishon LeZion, Petah Tikva, Tel Aviv, and dozens of other cities, all this struggle at the top looks much simpler and tougher at the same time. Parents are interested not in the abstract dispute of ministers, but in the specific question: where will the child be on Sunday morning, who will look after them, will the school be open at least partially, and will they have to rearrange work, home, and the entire family routine at the last moment again.

In this sense, the current model of education management causes fatigue. Israeli parents are already used to living between the instructions of the Home Front Command, the decisions of ministries, and emergency statements by politicians, but after Passover, society clearly expects a clearer scheme. Not a temporary slogan for two days, but a clear regime at least a week ahead.

The most likely scenario now

If there is no new deterioration in the situation, the most likely scenario is the launch of the capsule system from Sunday. Most likely, it will not be the same across the country: somewhere more classes will open, somewhere they will be limited to a small number of groups, and in some areas, the in-person component will remain symbolic. In other words, Israel is essentially moving not towards a unified school model but towards a mosaic of local solutions under a common state umbrella.

At the same time, the debate about summer compensation for school days will not disappear. Even if capsules start, Smotrich’s question of whether to consider current losses temporary or to move them to vacations will return. This means that after Passover, society will likely receive not a final decision but only the next stage of a long conflict between security, the economy, and the education system.

In the end, the picture looks like this: the coming days Israel lives by the old rules, Sunday may become the start of a new capsule phase, and behind the scenes, there is already a struggle over who will pay for this crisis — parents, teachers, children, summer vacations, or the state, which has not yet found a formula that can satisfy everyone at once.