"The Recommendations of the Shoshani Committee are hostile to the public religious educational network and cause it great harm - especially in the development towns, underprivileged neighborhoods, and Yesha communities where the religious schools are small." So says Knesset Education Committee Chairman Zevulun Orlev (NRP), in response to the new funding system for public and public-religious schools, announced yesterday by Education Minister Limor Livnat.
The bottom line of the new system, claims Orlev, is that "the students in the religious Zionist education network will receive less school hours from the government." He estimates that the loss to religious education will be tens of thousands of teaching hours. Orlev says that the NRP fought successfully for many years to thwart this "decree," even against Education Ministers from Meretz such as Shulamit Aloni and Yossi Sarid. The NRP has accepted his suggestion to meet with Prime Minister Sharon and "make a firm demand that the new system not be imposed on the religious elementary schools."
The bottom line of the new system, claims Orlev, is that "the students in the religious Zionist education network will receive less school hours from the government." He estimates that the loss to religious education will be tens of thousands of teaching hours. Orlev says that the NRP fought successfully for many years to thwart this "decree," even against Education Ministers from Meretz such as Shulamit Aloni and Yossi Sarid. The NRP has accepted his suggestion to meet with Prime Minister Sharon and "make a firm demand that the new system not be imposed on the religious elementary schools."