Betzedek is working to reverse a discriminatory Education
Ministry directive to compensate teachers for test
preparation only if the students take the Bagrut Exams,
thereby excluding teachers at chareidi high schools for
girls, where students take the Szold Exams.
In 1989 an agreement was signed between teachers'
organizations and the State, setting terms of employment for
all instructors regardless of the type of school or
institution. The agreement included pay bonuses for extra
hours spent preparing students for standardized exams. But
two years ago the Education Ministry decided to add a very
directed interpretation to one of the paragraphs in the
agreement to say that it only referred to preparation for
students who take Bagrut (Matriculation) exams.
After the Education Ministry's legal department rejected
several requests, Betzedek Director Atty. Rabbi Mordechai
Green filed a preliminary High Court petition against the
Education Ministry's directive.
In its most recent letter the organization notes that
despite the heading "Compensation for Bagrut Exams
Preparation," a different agreement is held to refer both to
these matriculation exams as well as others not in the
framework of the reform. Clearly the agreement is broad
enough to apply to alternative matriculation exams, writes
Atty. Green.
He also argues that the heading of the agreement, "Wages and
Terms of Employment for Workers Hired and Ranked as
Instruction Workers," clearly includes teachers at chareidi
high schools. Betzedek says that a narrow interpretation of
the agreement automatically creates discrimination against
Agudas Yisroel teachers compared to teachers from the
Teachers' Union and the Association of Upper School
Teachers.
Betzedek emphasized that the Szold Exams are not easier than
the Bagrut Exams and the preparation for them is really much
harder and a bigger burden on the teacher, adding that the
Szold exams were approved by the Education Ministry's
Oversight Committee as a suitable alternative for the Bagrut
and that the Szold Institute writes both these exams and the
theoretical sections of the Bagrut Exams.
If the problem is not solved otherwise, Betzedek said it
would be compelled to file a High Court petition to counter
the discrimination against teachers at chareidi high
schools.
