The reforms call for a five-day school week; eight-hour days - instead of the customary five or six – will compensate for Fridays, which will be reserved only for optional activities. In addition, some 14,000 teachers are to be laid off over the coming five years; the remainder will receive higher salaries and improved conditions, will have to remain in school each day until 4 pm, and will be required to undergo more intense teacher training. The school year will begin on August 25, instead of September 1, and the vacation schedule will be changed. The Education Ministry will have less direct control over the curriculum of individual schools, though a basic core curriculum will be mandatory in all schools.
The reforms have aroused much opposition within the religious-Zionist school system, for several reasons. The recent coalition agreement with United Torah Judaism, however, is the "final straw," and MK Zevulun Orlev of the National Religious Party (NRP) now says he will sue the State because of "out-and-out discrimination."
The main achievement of the newly-signed coalition agreement, from UTJ's standpoint, is that the Dovrat Reforms will not be applied to hareidi schools. This has the NRP up in arms. Orlev warned the Likud last week not to agree to apply the recommendations in an unequal manner. "Removing the hareidi educational system from the Dovrat Report is unfair discrimination of the public-religious system, and is illegal," Orlev wrote.
One of the main concerns of the NRP is that with hareidi schools open six days a week, many parents will opt to send their children there, rather than have to pay extra for Friday classes. "It should be in the State's interest to have its pupils study in a public system, rather than in a private school system," MK Sha'ul Yahalom has said in the past.
The current coalition agreement, Orlev wrote, "divides Israel's children into two groups: those who are covered by the coalition, and the neglected ones who belong to the opposition. This is something that the rule of law cannot recognize. It is unacceptable that the independent [hareidi] school system should be built on the ruins of the religious-public system, which is loyal to the State in [every way]... We are not jealous of the coalition achievements of UTJ, but it cannot be that a religious school will be closed, the sign switched, and in its place will be built a hareidi school."
One of the main goals of the Dovrat plan, according to a Teachers Union spokesperson, was to integrate hareidi students into the mainstream of Israeli education. This goal will no longer be achieved, Orlev maintains, "thus that the ethical basis of the Dovrat program no longer exists, and the celebration regarding its presentation today is simply artificial."
Chief among the NRP's concerns is the blow at the public-religious school system's independence. Bentzy Del, a former Education Ministry Director-General, explained this point to Arutz-7 today: "I hope that there will be changes in the Dovrat report, but as it currently stands, significant damage will be caused to the public-religious school system. The head of the Religious Education Administration currently has a unique status, giving him more authority than even the Director-General in some ways, and with immediate access to the Minister. He has the final say regarding school closings, hiring of supervisors and teachers, etc. The merging of small schools, which the Dovrat Commission calls for, is also in his purview. It is his job to weigh each case individually, based on many different considerations; this should never be done in a wholesale manner."
On the other hand, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed wrote in B'Sheva this week of several positive aspects of the reforms. "For one thing," he explained to Arutz-7 today, "it means that the parents will be more in charge of their schools, and the Education Ministry will have less say." He explained that parents will now be more able to demand education in accordance with their desires, such as having separate boys-and-girls classes, and not be dependent upon strict Education Ministry guidelines.
The reforms have aroused much opposition within the religious-Zionist school system, for several reasons. The recent coalition agreement with United Torah Judaism, however, is the "final straw," and MK Zevulun Orlev of the National Religious Party (NRP) now says he will sue the State because of "out-and-out discrimination."
The main achievement of the newly-signed coalition agreement, from UTJ's standpoint, is that the Dovrat Reforms will not be applied to hareidi schools. This has the NRP up in arms. Orlev warned the Likud last week not to agree to apply the recommendations in an unequal manner. "Removing the hareidi educational system from the Dovrat Report is unfair discrimination of the public-religious system, and is illegal," Orlev wrote.
One of the main concerns of the NRP is that with hareidi schools open six days a week, many parents will opt to send their children there, rather than have to pay extra for Friday classes. "It should be in the State's interest to have its pupils study in a public system, rather than in a private school system," MK Sha'ul Yahalom has said in the past.
The current coalition agreement, Orlev wrote, "divides Israel's children into two groups: those who are covered by the coalition, and the neglected ones who belong to the opposition. This is something that the rule of law cannot recognize. It is unacceptable that the independent [hareidi] school system should be built on the ruins of the religious-public system, which is loyal to the State in [every way]... We are not jealous of the coalition achievements of UTJ, but it cannot be that a religious school will be closed, the sign switched, and in its place will be built a hareidi school."
One of the main goals of the Dovrat plan, according to a Teachers Union spokesperson, was to integrate hareidi students into the mainstream of Israeli education. This goal will no longer be achieved, Orlev maintains, "thus that the ethical basis of the Dovrat program no longer exists, and the celebration regarding its presentation today is simply artificial."
Chief among the NRP's concerns is the blow at the public-religious school system's independence. Bentzy Del, a former Education Ministry Director-General, explained this point to Arutz-7 today: "I hope that there will be changes in the Dovrat report, but as it currently stands, significant damage will be caused to the public-religious school system. The head of the Religious Education Administration currently has a unique status, giving him more authority than even the Director-General in some ways, and with immediate access to the Minister. He has the final say regarding school closings, hiring of supervisors and teachers, etc. The merging of small schools, which the Dovrat Commission calls for, is also in his purview. It is his job to weigh each case individually, based on many different considerations; this should never be done in a wholesale manner."
On the other hand, Rabbi Eliezer Melamed wrote in B'Sheva this week of several positive aspects of the reforms. "For one thing," he explained to Arutz-7 today, "it means that the parents will be more in charge of their schools, and the Education Ministry will have less say." He explained that parents will now be more able to demand education in accordance with their desires, such as having separate boys-and-girls classes, and not be dependent upon strict Education Ministry guidelines.