About half a million high school students still don't know if they'll start school this Friday. The negotiating teams, which did not reach an agreement on Monday, will reconvene tomorrow morning to try to find a solution to the crisis that threatens the start of the school year in high schools. Sources in the negotiations said that today's meeting ended in good spirit but without agreement.
Ran Erez, chairman of the teachers' union, continues to declare that as far as he is concerned, there is a strike and that teachers will not start the school year unless a wage agreement is signed with them in the coming days.
Kish and Smotrich in joint call to teachers' union chairman: "Start negotiations before the start of the year"
The pressure on all sides is increasing. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to intervene in the crisis. On Wednesday, parents and students are expected to demonstrate in front of three different locations that they believe are to blame for the issue – leaving the Ministry of Education in Tel Aviv to the teachers' union house and from there to the government compound (Ministry of Finance) in the city.
Education Minister Yoav Kish's meeting with Ran Erez at the Finance Ministry, which was instructed to be "a marathon of talks until white smoke comes out of the room," failed to resolve the crisis. If there is no choice, the labor court will have to intervene.
Prime Minister Netanyahu. Will he intervene in the crisis?, Photo: Mark Israel Salem
Will the classrooms remain empty? (Archive), photo: Herzi Shapira
While the situation in high schools is foggy, kindergartens and elementary schools will open the 1-7 school year on Friday. More than 181.22 million elementary and kindergarten students, as well as most middle school students, will begin the 400-3 school year, including about 480,<> first graders. Meanwhile, some <>,<> kindergartens and <>,<> primary schools are expected to open.
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