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Tens of thousands of teachers and students will be harmed: The programs that will be closed due to the budget crisis

Weeks before the start of school, the Ministry of Education freezes a series of programs against the background of the battles between the Likud and Blue and White. Those who will pay the price are children at risk, teenagers who have dropped out of schools and reinforcement frameworks in the periphery. What programs will be discontinued, which populations will be affected by the situation, and how many teachers will be fired?

• Ministry of Education
• Corona virus
• Youth at Risk

Dana Yarkatzi

In less than a month, the school year will open, and the Ministry of Education continues to announce the freezing of many programs in the field of formal and informal education. These measures come against the background of a deficit crisis experienced by the ministry, with the beginning of the Corona's damage to the education system. Among the programs that are at risk of closure: projects for dropout youth, youth at risk, executive training, battle program and national service girls.

At present, the political clashes between the Likud and Blue and White over the nature of the transfer of the annual budget are responsible for the plight of tens of thousands of children and teachers across the country who will be affected by the situation. At a press conference held this weekend by Education Minister Yoav Galant, he tried to hang the blame on blue-and-white chairman Bnei Gantz and called on him to sign an annual budget to solve the problem.

As a result, the Ministry of Education, which is waiting for NIS 4 billion for these supplementary programs, has spread the word of the freeze to a number of educational projects throughout the country. Walla! NEWS It has been learned that as a result of the budget delay, the Avnei Rosha Institute, which employs about 300 managers each year, will also be affected, which could lead to the dismissal of employees at the institute. In addition, the lack of budgeting is expected to lead to the cessation of activities for new programs that the Ministry of Education seeks to promote. Which programs are at risk of freezing, and how many children and employees will be harmed by their closure?

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Hila program

Who is it for: Falling and at-risk youth expelled from educational institutions
Status: Program employees received summonses for a hearing before dismissal
Number of teachers to be harmed: 1,600 employees
Program budget: NIS 140 million

Among the plans that will be frozen due to the lack of budget, HILA, which works for dropout and at-risk youth. In the background of the announcement of the intention to freeze the program, the Ministries of Education and Finance and the Community Centers Association tried to negotiate to prevent the move. However, it was finally decided to send hearing letters to the program staff before dismissal. The budget for the program, which annually addresses about 8,000 teens dropped out of educational institutions, has not been approved by the Ministry of Education, and more than a thousand employees could lose their jobs.

"In the Hila program, which is a last resort for young people without educational frameworks, the youth study in a study format of six students in a class to prepare them for the matriculation exams or a final certificate. According to the Ministry of Education, until a comprehensive annual budget is transferred, programs like Hill can not be budgeted." God.

Following this, a workers' power organization filed an application for a restraining order against the dismissal of Hila employees in the Tel Aviv Labor Court. In a request for a hearing, the organization wrote that "it is not possible that the contractor company that employs teachers, the community center company, will hold a collective hearing for 1,600 teachers "Sideways, and without consultation with the workers' committee as required by the collective agreement." In addition, the organization called on the Ministry of Education to clarify what solution will be given to students who will be expelled from the program.

More on Walla! NEWS

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Tehila, a student at Hila from the Jerusalem area, told Walla! NEWS how the closure of the program will affect her. "Before Hila I studied in two schools and could not survive there, I came to the program because my sister studied there and they just matched us." According to her, she suffered from many educational problems that were diagnosed, and only when she started studying in the program was she able to progress towards full matriculation.

"They are like a home for me, the teachers are my friends and call me beyond school hours," Fame said. "They made me want to study in a way that suits me. For me, closing the Hila program is the end of the world, everything I built will go to waste."

"Battle" program

For whom it is intended: Enrichment for children and youth in the periphery
Status: In the directive between Labor and Labor, negotiations are taking place between the committee and the Ministries of Finance and Education The
number of teachers will be harmed: 3,800 teachers and counselors
Budget program: NIS 120 million

Another significant program that could be canceled this year is "Battle", which works to reduce gaps in Israeli society through enrichment and empowerment actions in the education system. The program, which is run by the community center company, has about 4,000 teachers and operates in 114 authorities. Discussions are currently taking place between the chairman of the committee and the ministries of education and finance, on the instructions of the Labor Court.

Orly Levy, chairman and to plan "battle", told Walla! News that the Minister of Education brought them back to the starting point. "He said that there is no state budget and it is impossible to confirm their plans incremental," she said. According to her, this disclaimer teachers and students.

"Held Negotiations that did not bear fruit, and on Monday we convene again in the Labor Court. "We continue with all our might in the struggle, and invite the Minister to sanctify education and not the political struggles at the expense of the employees and students," Levy added. "For us, the Minister of Education is responsible for educating children. Everything else he says is to roll over responsibility."

Milat program

For whom it is intended: Reinforcement of studies and enrichment for youth in the periphery
Status: Not renewed the contract and employees were expelled to the IDF as early as June
Number of teaching staff to be harmed: 2,500 employees
Program budget: NIS 135 million

The Milat program, which provides additional day-care frameworks for the peripheral native, is a nationwide program for the advancement of students in the academic and social field. The program extends the school day and provides a therapeutic envelope for a distinct group of students. . The program is active in hundreds of educational institutions, including kindergartens, elementary schools and middle schools. its annual budget is estimated at NIS 135 million, approximately -26 thousand children in 55 communities. these days, some 2,500 workers are threatened with dismissal.

Executive Director For a turnaround in education, Michael Chen, told about the program and the consequences of its closure. "The program began operating 20 years ago, it is aimed at a population of students who need a formal supportive framework even though it is actually during hours when there is no school setting," Chen described. "A child finishes school at 13:00 and the program allows him to stay effectively until 16:00 in an educational setting, four times a week and sometimes five times."

According to him, the purpose of the program is to provide students with what a normal school day does not provide, from such and such constraints. "The program usually operates in areas of the social and geographical periphery," he said. "We do not operate in the framework of 300 students, but in the framework of 30 children and in half classes." Chen added that beyond the pedagogical aspects of the program, it also works on the emotional level and in remedial teaching.

"The freeze means that on September 1, 30,000 children will not receive supportive frameworks in the afternoon, and respectively 30,000 pairs of parents will not be able to rely on a solution for their children that is both pedagogical and social, in the sense that it has an appropriate arrangement and work," Chen explained. "The Ministry of Education has announced that it cannot renew our engagement contract. In the meantime, we have expelled more than 200 teachers, counselors and caregivers for the Knesset, along with permanent association employees."

Training for national service volunteers

Who is it for: Training 4,000 volunteers
Status: The program has been frozen
Number of employees to be harmed: 120 employees
Program budget: NIS 180 million

National service volunteers play a crucial role in the education system, youth villages, boarding schools, special education schools and assisting the professional teaching force. A document sent by the Ministry of Education states that "there is no approved state budget and we are operating within the missing continuum budget. In the absence of a full budget to operate the national service for the entire period September-December, there is currently no approval to run summer trainings." The ministry clarified that according to the rules of accounting, they will not be able to pay retrospectively for trainings performed without approval.

According to the director general of the Association for Volunteering, Yaron Lutz, "The announcement by the Ministry of Education to cancel the training for national service volunteers due to a lack of budget is delusional and illogical. "It is not possible that three weeks before the start of the school year, in a year that is expected to be particularly challenging in the shadow of the Corona, when the education system needs a lot of manpower and the added value of national service volunteers, thousands of volunteers will be left without a frame."

"It's not just the cry of national service volunteers," Lutz continued. "This is also the cry of the students, the parents and the teachers. In recent months, against the background of the crisis, the significant contribution and the need for national service volunteers in the entire social arena has been best expressed, especially in the field of education."

He added that "budget problems would not cancel the recruitment cycle for the army, so budget problems should not cancel the recruitment cycle of the national service, which is a necessary alternative to military service that promotes equality of burden and contributes to Israeli society." Lutz called on the Ministry of Education and decision-makers to back down, and allow the training of thousands of volunteers and open the volunteering year immediately.

The Virtual High School of Volleyball

Who is it for: Students from the social and geographical periphery
Status: The program has been frozen The
number of employees who will be harmed: Dozens
Budget program: NIS 15-12 million per year

The Virtual High School of Volleyball (Center for Educational Technology) allows 850 students from around the country to study for matriculation in mathematics, physics, English, chemistry and biology at the five-unit level and virtually. The high school has been operating for eight years, providing classroom completion with the help of outstanding students who mentor students from the social and geographical periphery and hold a weekly meeting with them in groups of four students.

Eyal Sinai has been a physics teacher and has been teaching at the Volleyball Virtual High School for the past six years. He received the "Teacher of the State" award, the "De Shalit" award for outstanding physics teachers, as well as a commendation from the "Trump Award" for teaching. He said, "Virtual high school teaching is not a simple teaching, and the zoom studies that have been in the last three months are not at all like virtual high school. For me too, with all the experience I gained, it was not very simple at first because you do not know the students."

Sinai said making contact with the student is dozens of times more important than how the material is explained, and the lack of a budget will prevent students in the periphery from special communities from being exposed to the world of science and technology. "In the last six years we have been able to create a framework that teaches physics and mathematics at a high level and also connects with the students and shares their vision. We know the students and reach with them very good achievements and they also say that. It is not only achievements, it is also exposure to science and technology. "There is a goal that sometimes in other places is not important."

He went on to say that stopping the program not only hurts the next generation who will not receive this science education, but also stops students who have already started tenth grade - that next year there will be no one to teach them the material. "I have a class that was tested in a matriculation exam in physics a month and a half ago. They have invested a lot, studied and achieved good results, but what will they do now? They have no major and will not have a matriculation," Sinai said. "How do you say to a child who after two years of studying physics, 'this is it, now it's over'?".

Beyond that, Sinai explained that stopping the program would harm the equal opportunities of these students. "It is clear to everyone what the importance of these subjects is, certainly in such places. To come and close the program to students in places like Elad, Katzrin, sitting in Elon Moreh will severely impair the accessibility of students from disadvantaged areas in subjects that will give them the key to integration into the modern social economy."

The Ametz and Talam supplementary programs to prevent dropouts will not begin activities in the 11th and 12th strata. The announcement from the Ministry of Education states that "We would like to inform you that at the moment it is not possible to issue calls for calls to hold the allocation and budgeting committees of the supplementary programs."

The AMZ program, which enrolls about 5,500 high school students, provides unique teaching methods for students from weak economic backgrounds or students who have difficulty studying for full matriculation. The TLAM program, which is also in danger of closing, identifies students at risk of dropping out as early as ninth grade. For full maturity.

According to Rami Hoffenberg, deputy director of education and community in the Petah Tikva municipality and deputy chairman of the national association of directors of education departments, the cessation of dropout prevention programs means throwing hundreds of teens into the street. "There are a number of programs that are part of the formal education system, that address at-risk youth and youth who are on the verge of dropping out. This is the most sensitive group, whose treatment is the most significant," he said. "Stopping these programs actually means throwing no less than thousands of teenagers into the street. This is a population group that Israeli society will pay a high price in the future, not just in money, to deal with its need and problem."

However, Hoffenberg said he is convinced the Ministry of Education is working to bring these programs back into operation. "I guess the chances are good. You have to understand that these are programs that need the stability and security of the people in them more than any other program," he said. "The current situation is causing great damage, damage to boys who are losing stability, which is difficult to restore, and damage to teachers and counselors some of whom can give up and look for another job."

According to him, even then the issue of treatment of at-risk youth was not stable. "This is a big mistake that needs to be corrected and the problem is exploding in everyone's face. There is a consensus among the entire education community in the country, in the local authorities, the education system itself, the Ministry of Education and everywhere that the problem needs to be resolved immediately, and I hope the prime minister. They will convene on the matter, "he added. "I'm sure they are doing it, just that it needs to be done soon to restore stability to this sensitive and important system."

Tal Ohana, the mayor of Yeruham, said that the teachers in this program are employed as contract workers and have less good conditions anyway. "The State of Israel needs to understand that the opening of the school year is a once-a-year event, and it is simply impossible to arrive on August 31 and tell the authorities that they believe in opening the school year, which programs will be frozen or not," she said. "We employ teachers for at-risk youth. We do not find them on the street - these are teachers who have very unique training and skill. They are contract workers employed in part-time jobs, and the children they teach need the most skilled teaching power."

"How can I open a framework on September 1 when I have uncertainty about all the plans I have mentioned?" Ohana wondered. "I need teaching tools that do not rely solely on teachers. How do you deal with the fact that there are no tools and they are not like a battle plan? Science studies? We have proven to the State of Israel that one of the most advanced science education in the world, but now the additional budgets have disappeared."

According to her, it is impossible to talk about expanding the powers of the local authorities in the State of Israel and say but to claim that the state does not have the resources to give. "I do not know how to employ teachers with the level of skill I need on August 31. I do not know how to take care of welfare programs that I have already funded for a whole year," she said. "Yeruham, who is poor in resources, funded several educational welfare programs for a year because there was no state budget, and I was not prepared to give up the weakest children in the system. It could not continue."