The Ministerial Committee on Legislative Affairs today (Sunday) approved the initiative put forward by MK Yomtob Kalfon's (Yamina) bill to deny budgets to educational institutions that discriminate against students on the basis of their ethnic origin.
This bill was submitted on the joint initiative of Minister of Religions Matan Kahana and MK Yomtob Kalfon after a similar proposal submitted a few years ago by, among others, Minister Meir Cohen was blocked by the Hareidi parties that were then members of the coalition.
Every year, there are cases of Sephardic students who do not start learning on time, or whose learning is hampered by disagreements with their chosen school due to their ethnicity.
The Shas party has previously claimed that it would promote the issue of discrimination against Sephardic students, but in practice has prevented the promotion of a similar law all these years. It is expected to oppose this initiative as well.
MK Kalfon said: "I congratulate the Ministerial Committee on approving this important bill. It is inconceivable that, in 2022, educational institutions can continue to discriminate against male and female students just because of their ethnic origin. Is a girl born to a Sephardic family less smart or talented than her Ashkenazi neighbor? Should children named Buzaglo or Kalfon be treated worse than a child from the Rosenberg or Rosenstein family?"
"An educational institution that prevents admission to studies for students because of their ethnic origin will not receive funding from the state. It is time to put an end to this," Kalfon said.