The “Ohel Shem” public school in Ramat Gan has decided to forbid students to hold group prayers on school grounds during break. School officials and parents came to Jerusalem on Monday to discuss the issue with the Knesset’s Education Committee.
School officials argued that the students would be allowed to leave school grounds and attend prayer services in a nearby synagogue if they wished to do so. Holding prayers on school grounds was a “provocation,” they said, with one official blaming the school prayers on “a group of extremist sources, who are trying to bring other students back to religion.” Other officials and parents also cited fears that outside sources were attempting to make students religious.