Minister of Education Gideon Saar (Likud) toured Samaria on Tuesday as the guest of Shomron (Samaria) Regional Council Head Gershon Mesika, and laid the cornerstone for a kindergarten at Barkan.
The minister also visited the religious elementary school at Yakir, where he saw the crowded conditions caused by the current construction freeze. The building ban is preventing the construction of additional classes.
In November, the government declared a temporary 10-month halt to all construction in Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, following US pressure. Minister Saar said Wednesday, however, that “the matter of building educational institutions is not a political one, it is not controversial. In this matter there is a commitment by the government to the citizens and I intend to insist that the needs are met.”
Mesika told Saar that “it is unthinkable that any government ministry other than the Ministry of Education would become involved in matters concerning educational institutions. If the State builds schools for Bedouins in unauthorized and blatantly illegal villages, it goes without saying that in communities created by the government in Samaria, children must remain outside the political game.”
