The politicians used to argue among themselves about who would get to serve as Minister of Education.
The fifth president of the country chose to serve as education minister after leaving the presidential residence.
Today the situation has changed by almost 180 degrees.
The State of Israel has changed - the Minister of Education is a position that no one wants.
One of the most important files, which directly affects over 2.4 million students as well as their parents, the file with the largest budget of all (about 70 billion NIS - much more than the defense budget) remains dead.
The politicians run away from him like fire.
Most of the files in the government have already been distributed, but none of the politicians is in a hurry to demand the education file.
In MK Miri Regev's environment, they stepped up and announced that she does not want to accept the portfolio at all and that she "will not agree to accept the split education portfolio", as she insists on returning to the transportation portfolio.
"The politicians do not want the position of Minister of Education because it is a position without the ability to make significant decisions, without a budget and without the ability to succeed. In education you are doomed to failure," claims Oved Yehezkel, former secretary of the government and currently chairman of the Levinsky Wingate Academic Center and chairman of The strategic consultancy Tara.
"The ability of ministers to make complex decisions is limited, in the Ministry of Education this is even more evident. First, as a minister you do not control the money. Apparently, this is the largest budget among the ministries, but the money is 'hypocritical' and is intended to pay teaching staff, after-hours, transportation, etc. That is why you are a minister. Poor, without resources, and you always have to fight the Ministry of Finance."
Disperse his powers
According to him, another problem is that the ministry is very regulatory: "There are excellent people in the Ministry of Education, but the monopolistic mechanism does not allow them to release power, so it is the bureaucracy that sets the tone. The powers are with the officials, not with the minister, and everything entails mountains of bureaucracy. The third reason is that the issue of education is A subject that does not have many successes, not even in the world. It is an area that is undergoing too great changes and it is difficult to produce successes in it. Ministers who want to be associated with public successes do the math and walk away from the position."
This time, a unique central reason for the sharp decline in the prestige of the education portfolio was added - the ministry, which until now was led by one minister, will be divided between four to five different ministers.
As part of the coalition agreements, it was determined that the responsibility for state-religious education (HMAD) will be transferred to the Ministry of Finance under Minister Bezalel Smotrich. In addition, another minister will be appointed in the Ministry of Education on behalf of Shas who will be responsible for ultra-orthodox education, non-formal education and youth movements.
Along with these, the unit for external programs in the Ministry of Education will be transferred to the responsibility of Avi Maoz from the Noam party, and the division for Jewish identity will be transferred to the Ministry for National Missions (which will be headed by Orit Strock).
This is what will be left for the minister
There are those who claim that the position of Minister of Education has been emptied of its content, but this is not accurate.
The minister will still have the ability to influence a wide range of issues such as: matriculation, after-school programs, reducing gaps, a long school day, vacation days and more.
"The devaluation of the status of the education portfolio is a consequence of the leadership over generations, regardless of the right or the left. They did not understand that the Ministry of Education needs to bring in professionals, both ministers and CEOs," says Michal Cohen, current CEO of the Rashi Foundation and CEO The former Ministry of Education.
"The fact that no one wants education is a continuation of the fact that they don't really understand its importance. It's easy to say before the elections that education is a priority, but we see now that not only is it not at the top, but that it is treated like a grocery store and it is left last.
Ministry of Education.
"The minister who enters will be shocked", photo: Oren Ben Hakon
In the past, sectoral parties fought over the education portfolio in the belief that they would be able to influence it.
The case was given as a reward to the senior partner in the coalition.
For a decade, in the nineties, it was transferred between the two poles - Meretz and the MDF (later: Religious Zionism). It was held by Zebulon Hamer of the MDF, then it was transferred to Shulamit Aloni and Amnon Rubinstein of Meretz.
It returned to Zebulon Hamer and Yitzhak Levy from the Federal Ministry of Defense and in 2000 it was transferred to Yossi Sharid from Meretz. However, in the last decade this case was given several times as a consolation prize to those who didn't really want it, Naftali Bennett and Yoav Galant saw this case as a stopover.
Liron Moldovan
In 2006, Prof. Uriel Reichman resigned from the Knesset after the education portfolio that was promised to him and for which he joined the Kadima party, was not given to him.
He returned to academia to continue his work as president of the Interdisciplinary Center which has since become a university.
"The issue of education is a critical issue for the entire country," emphasizes Reichman.
"I would like to hope that everyone who goes into politics is motivated by a desire to serve the future of the nation and act in the public interest, and if that is not the case, it is very sad."
The assessment: Regev or Cohen from the Likud will be appointed
Despite their opposition to having a reduced Ministry of Education, it seems that in the end one of the Knesset members Miri Regev or Eli Cohen from the Likud will be appointed to the position of Minister of Education.
Knesset members Eli Cohen and Miri Regev are the two names that have been mentioned as Likud candidates for the education portfolio.
During Netanyahu's meetings with the members of his faction to hear about their desire to serve in the various ministries, Cohen and Regev both expressed dissatisfaction with serving in the Ministry of Education, this against the background of the fact that it is a trimmed ministry from which parts were taken out and given to the coalition partners as part of the negotiations to form the government. Now Cohen and Regev prefer to serve in the Ministry of Transportation. Also, during the negotiations, Itamar Ben Gabir and Bezalel Smotrich each demanded the education portfolio for his party before the portfolio was split.
Miri Regev.
Soon at the Ministry of Education?, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Within the framework of the coalition agreements, Avi Maoz received under his responsibility the unit for external programs that was in the Ministry of Education and from now on will come out and be subordinated to him in the Prime Minister's Office.
Deri received the association for community centers issued by the Ministry of Education, and Orit Struck received the Torah culture division of the Ministry of National Tasks, which she will head. The assessment in Likud is that despite their opposition, Eli Cohen or Miri Regev will serve in the Ministry of Education, but Netanyahu is expected to announce their positions only near the time of the government's inauguration .
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