Israel Launches Pilot Program Placing Nurses in Elementary Schools Nationwide
The Israeli Ministries of Education and Health have approved a pilot program to station professional nurses in elementary schools across the country, starting this September with the new school year. The initiative will begin in ten schools, prioritizing those with higher numbers of students requiring medical assistance. The program aims to evaluate the effectiveness and professionalism of having a dedicated nurse as part of the school community.
Under the pilot, nurses will provide medical care to students with special needs, administer first aid, and lead health promotion programs for all students. Four nurses will be assigned to schools in the Haifa and Jerusalem districts through the company Terem, four more in central Israel via Pemi Premium, and two additional nurses will be employed directly by the Ministry of Health. Each nurse will work approximately 30 hours per week, covering five days.
Eligible schools must have at least three students needing medical support due to health conditions such as life-threatening allergies, epilepsy, or diabetes, and currently employ at least three full-time educational assistants for medical aid. The nurse will replace these assistants by providing comprehensive health services under the National Health Insurance Law. However, students requiring invasive medical interventions like oxygen or gastrostomy feeding are excluded from this pilot and will continue receiving existing care.
Besides direct care, nurses will identify and report disease outbreaks, assist in epidemiological investigations, train school staff in health and first aid, and lead programs on nutrition, physical activity, hygiene, mental health, and risk prevention. They will also participate in school steering committees and community health promotion.
The decision follows a Knesset research report estimating the annual cost of placing a nurse in every elementary and middle school at 460 to 488 million shekels, comparable to current budgets for educational assistants, which have surged due to a 20-fold increase in students eligible for medical aides, mainly because of food allergies. In the 2022-2023 school year, the Education Ministry allocated approximately 635 million shekels for medical assistants, with 523 million shekels for allergy-related cases.
The pilot will be evaluated at the end of the school year to determine its success and potential expansion. The Education Ministry supports the return of nurses to schools and sees the possibility of replacing medical assistants and extending services to older students with allergies.
