Due to an ongoing teachers' strike, the nation's secondary schools have yet to return to their regular schedules. Striking high school teachers announced on Thursday that they would postpone scheduled state-wide scholastic achievement examinations.
The Labor Court ordered the Secondary School Teachers Union (SSTU) to administer the exams despite their ongoing wage strike, but the teachers claim that a postponement
Teachers claim that a postponement of exams would not violate court instructions.
would not violate court instructions. The SSTU Chairman Ran Erez said that, even as the strike continues, the teachers had not canceled needed preparatory classes and reviews ahead of the battery of high school achievement exams. Due to the strike, regular Thursday classes were called off in all of the nation's high schools and in some junior-highs. The Education Ministry has set up a hotline for parents and students during the ongoing strike at 1-800-250-025.
The SSTU strike was called in protest over educational reform cutbacks that have been implemented in recent years, as well as over wages and working terms. While acknowledging that "the strike may harm pupils," Erez said, "the government is harming them even more. In the past five years, the government has reduced the [school] week by eight and a half hours of classes."
A statement by the Finance Ministry on Wednesday called the SSTU strike "acrobatics designed to serve the union's internal needs." The Finance Ministry noted that it and the Ministry of Education were in the process of negotiations for education system reform and significant wage increases with representatives of the national Teachers Union, affiliated with the Histadrut national labor union. "Unfortunately, and for irrelevant reasons," the statement said, "the SSTU leadership is harming the chances of its members to enjoy the benefits and changes that the [national] Teachers Union members are enjoying."
The SSTU's Erez called the Finance Ministry's threat a "divide and conquer tactic" that the government uses "when they don't want to supply the goods."
The Labor Court ordered the Secondary School Teachers Union (SSTU) to administer the exams despite their ongoing wage strike, but the teachers claim that a postponement
Teachers claim that a postponement of exams would not violate court instructions.
would not violate court instructions. The SSTU Chairman Ran Erez said that, even as the strike continues, the teachers had not canceled needed preparatory classes and reviews ahead of the battery of high school achievement exams. Due to the strike, regular Thursday classes were called off in all of the nation's high schools and in some junior-highs. The Education Ministry has set up a hotline for parents and students during the ongoing strike at 1-800-250-025. The SSTU strike was called in protest over educational reform cutbacks that have been implemented in recent years, as well as over wages and working terms. While acknowledging that "the strike may harm pupils," Erez said, "the government is harming them even more. In the past five years, the government has reduced the [school] week by eight and a half hours of classes."
A statement by the Finance Ministry on Wednesday called the SSTU strike "acrobatics designed to serve the union's internal needs." The Finance Ministry noted that it and the Ministry of Education were in the process of negotiations for education system reform and significant wage increases with representatives of the national Teachers Union, affiliated with the Histadrut national labor union. "Unfortunately, and for irrelevant reasons," the statement said, "the SSTU leadership is harming the chances of its members to enjoy the benefits and changes that the [national] Teachers Union members are enjoying."
The SSTU's Erez called the Finance Ministry's threat a "divide and conquer tactic" that the government uses "when they don't want to supply the goods."