A tough hand against violent students, female teachers to deal with the shortage of manpower, an additional budget for special education and the application of the program to 'registration zones' in additional cities - this is how the Minister of Education, Yoav Kish, plans to address the problems in the education system.
After a month in office, Education Minister Yoav Kish held his first press conference today (Sunday), in which the minister presented how he intends to address the crisis in the education system.
He held the press conference alongside the CEO of his office Assaf Tselal, who came from the Air Force but without the professional ranks of the Ministry of Education.
Minister Kish presents his plan for the education system // Photo: Spokesperson of the Ministry of Education
First, the minister referred to the revolution in the legal system and the upheaval it causes in the education system as well.
As published in Israel Hayom, the Ministry of Education came out against administrators in the city of Tel Aviv who announced that they would allow teachers to be absent to go demonstrate.
In this context, the minister said that: "A teacher or a student who is not present: the students will have a deduction recorded and the teachers will not receive payment. I think the education system should stay out of the political debates."
The minister referred to a variety of issues that caused a crisis in the education system, among others, the effect of the corona virus, a shortage of educators and personnel, a severe shortage of classrooms, bureaucracy and obstacles for administrators, the collapse of the special education system and severe damage to the status of the teacher.
The lack of manpower
The crisis of workers in the education system, including teaching workers (kindergarten teachers and teachers), has been hindering the conduct of the system for years.
To deal with the shortage, the minister promised to integrate female and male soldiers (during or after their military service) into the teaching profession and expand the schools of the great holiday.
Will he succeed in reducing gaps?
Yoav Kish launches his plan for the education system, photo: Ministry of Education
It should be noted that many ministers of education promised this - but this was not always supported by the army.
Also, there is a plan to shorten the training time and procedure so that teachers who arrive with high abilities can enter the education system early, along with increasing the position for teachers who already work in the education system.
Violence in the education system
In order to deal with the rising violence in schools as well, the minister intends to take a tougher hand against violent students in the system.
According to him, the education system has gone to a place of excessive "inclusion" of violent students.
As part of the confrontation, the principals will have, as today, the ability to remove students from the school if they say they cannot deal with the student.
In addition, Kish is interested in raising the status of the teacher, and even noted that the Ministry of Education supports raising students when the teacher enters the classroom.
The special education
Much has been said about the problems in the reform of special education, where many of the students do not get the frameworks that suit them.
In addition, those who integrate into regular classes and are supposed to receive an aide find out that there is a shortage of personnel.
Regarding various treatments such as communication therapist there is also a shortage and for every hour of treatment students are "cut" from the hours of assistance.
According to the ministry, about 12% of all students in the education system belong to special education, and the minister promised that a billion shekels will be allocated to this channel.
Will the treatment of violent students be tightened?
Violence at school (for illustration), photo: GettyImages
The gaps in the education system
The disparities between students from wealthy homes and students from poor homes in Israel are among the highest in the world.
According to the new minister, in order to deal with this situation, a new program will be promoted whose role is to reduce the gaps and give every child a chance.
The intention is to hold individual lessons and study in small groups - also in the afternoon and on Fridays, in which there will be an emphasis on language, English and math studies.
Opening registration areas
Today, a student who comes to the education system is assigned by the municipality according to his area of residence, there are several cities where there are registration areas and the students can choose where to study.
The danger is that strong students will concentrate in a certain school, while all the "weak" students will end up in another school.
Therefore, today the Ministry of Education is stopping authorities from carrying out the program.
Now the minister has announced that any local authority that wants to move forward with the program will receive support.
According to him, these are tools that enable competition in the education system, improve excellence and enable children born in less favorable neighborhoods to receive a better education.
Where will the money come from?
The Minister of Education claims that the next budget for the education system will be the highest ever, but the question is whether the Minister's wishes and promises have budgetary coverage.
According to him: "As far as the Ministry of Finance is concerned, we are in intensive meetings, we have not agreed on a number, but it is clear to everyone that it will be a higher number than ever."
And there are two issues the minister has not yet made a decision about.
The first is the matriculation reform.
As I recall, the plan of the previous Minister of Education, Yifat Shasha Biton, which stated that work in the intellectual subjects (literature, history, etc.) would be submitted, was canceled and it is not yet known what will replace it.
The second issue is that of free education from birth, which the Likud party committed to in the elections, which has also not yet been formulated.
Minister of Education, MK Yoav Kish: "I see great and significant importance in the effort to reduce the gaps and provide equal opportunity in the education system.
To this end, I work to promote individual lessons for each child, study in joint groups, strengthening the social periphery with an emphasis on language studies.
Happy to announce that the education budget that will be approved in the upcoming state budget is the largest that the education system has known since its establishment."
were we wrong
We will fix it!
If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us
