Beit Shemesh Mayor Aliza Bloch has called on the government to make the decision regarding whether preschools should open or not on Lag B'Omer, saying that the decision should not be left to be made by the preschool teachers themselves after coming under pressure from parents to work on a day that is usually vacation.
Earlier, head of the Teachers' Union, Yaffa Ben David, called on preschool teachers to "volunteer" their day off and work without pay "in order to make it easier for parents who have to work that day."
"Volunteering is an important value, but not one that the government should impose on people," Bloch said. "A decision to change the law needs to be made by the government and not by individual schools. It's not proper or ethical to allow parents to put such pressure on our valuable preschool teachers."