Protesting a cut of 60% in government funding over the past four years, the religious-Zionist high schools are on strike for a day - and plan to expand the measures if funding is not restored.
The one-day strike of high schools and junior high schools follows the nationwide week-long Chanukah vacation. It does not include most local public-religious schools, but rather the semi-private dormitory yeshivot [for boys] and ulpanot [for girls] of the Bnei Akiva, Amit, Noam and Tzviyah organizations, as well as other schools.
The traditional Sunday-morning exodus of high school students from religious communities in Jerusalem, Petach Tikvah, Judea and Samaria and elsewhere was thus replaced by a continued air of leisure, as the students remain away from their desks and books for yet another day.
Their principals are not resting, however. They are holding a protest sit-in outside the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem, warning that some of their schools will be forced to close if the funding is not at least partially restored.
Down by Nearly Half in Four Years
Up until 2004, the religious-Zionist high schools received funding from both the Education and Religious Affairs Ministries, totaling 280 million shekels in 2002. This sum dropped sharply last year to only 150 million shekels, says Elchanan Glatt, the Chairman of the Religious Zionist Education Forum.
At the last minute, however, with the help of then-Finance Minister Ehud Olmert, MK Zevulun Orlev, and others, 47 million shekels were added to the religious education budget.
This year, however, that addition is apparently not being considered.
A total of some 100,000 students are on strike, Glatt told Arutz-7's Hebrew newsmagazine. "We have traditionally tried not to take the students away from their Torah and other studies," Glatt said, "but there is simply no other choice. The budget for 2007 is about to be voted on this coming Thursday, and the astronomical sum of 130 million shekels is being cut. We simply will not be able to open the school year if this is the case."
Asked what will be the next step if the 50 million is not restored, Glatt said, "First of all, we have faith that there could very well be another Chanukah miracle. But if this cut is left intact, we plan to bring all the students to study Torah outside the Prime Minister's office."
At stake are more than 250 educational institutions, Glatt said, asking, "Could it be that there is someone who wants to specifically harm the religious-Zionist education?"
MK Orlev, participating at the sit-in today, said, "The government is holding the budget and our children as political hostages just because we're in the opposition. The parents already pay astronomical sums, and cannot pay more."
"This political persecution is liable to destroy our schools," Orlev said, "even though our graduates are the backbone of Israeli society. The government had better wake up before it cuts off the branch on which the State sits."
MK Rabbi Michael Melchior (Labor), chairman of the Knesset Education Committee, said he would convene the committee tomorrow for an emergency meeting on the issue. He said he would not allow a "draconian budget cut [to] kill religious-Zionist education," and that the schools must not be dependent upon political coalition agreements.