Education Minister Limor Livnat, known for her strong fight against budget cuts in the educational system, decided today on the closing down of Educational Television (ET) - mostly for budgetary reasons. The decision has been strongly criticized; MK Avshalom Vilan (Meretz), for instance, said that Livnat had declared war on \"one of the pillars of Israeli culture on which we grew up.\" It is scheduled to take effect within ten months, and 90% of ET\'s 500 workers will be dismissed and will receive preferential compensation payments.
Livnat thus adopted the recommendations of an investigative committee, which found that ET is not acting in accordance with its mandate, and that hardly any of its productions are directly connected with the school curricula. In addition, ET\'s budget is \"unreasonable and inefficient.\" She said she has no wish to harm any of the workers \"who, for many years, gave [so much] of themselves on behalf of ET,\" but at the same time, \"there is no choice but to conduct this reform.\"
Instead of ET, Livnat plans to establish a program called Visual Educational Enrichment Service, which will employ 50 workers and will produce and disseminate educational and public television content.
Livnat thus adopted the recommendations of an investigative committee, which found that ET is not acting in accordance with its mandate, and that hardly any of its productions are directly connected with the school curricula. In addition, ET\'s budget is \"unreasonable and inefficient.\" She said she has no wish to harm any of the workers \"who, for many years, gave [so much] of themselves on behalf of ET,\" but at the same time, \"there is no choice but to conduct this reform.\"
Instead of ET, Livnat plans to establish a program called Visual Educational Enrichment Service, which will employ 50 workers and will produce and disseminate educational and public television content.