The Federation of the Talmudei Torah warned that it is likely
that the budgets of the educational institutions in Jerusalem
will be drastically cut, by of tens of millions of shekels,
in the year 2000. As a result, it was decided to make an all-
out effort to prevent this drastic move, which is liable to
undermine all of the achievements of the chareidi
representation in the municipality in chareidi
chinuch.
The many statistics published over the past months regarding
the discrimination against chareidi education in Jerusalem
were accorded much attention, especially in Yated
Ne'eman. Last week, the Federation of the Talmudei Torah
sent the general director of the municipality, as well as the
deputy mayors of the city and the heads of the department for
chareidi education, data which clearly point to the
unprecedented deprivation of the chareidi education, despite
Ehud Olmert's repeated promises that he would grant all the
children of the city equal educational support.
The general director of the Federation of Talmudei Torah,
Rabbi Yitzchok Goldknopf claims that the proposal to cancel
the budget for the secretaries and janitors of the Talmudei
Torah, as well as the complementary allocation of 244 NIS for
pre-kindergarten classes and educational programs, will
impose extra obligations on the parents, in addition to the
regular tuition they must pay. This plan, they claim, does
not coincide with the aim to extend the Free Education Law to
children from three and up.
The statistics show that there are currently 68,598 (49.8% of
the total) children in the chareidi schools, as opposed to
68,925 (50.2%) in the combined secular and mamlachti dati
schools. At the elementary school level, the discrepancy is
even larger: 36,109 children in the chareidi system (56.4% of
the total) as opposed to 27,880 in the secular and mamlachti
dati schools (43.6% of the total). Another interesting
statistic: Out of the 36,109 students in the elementary
school system of the chareidi sector, the Talmudei Torah
constitute the majority, with 22,375 children in the Talmudei
Torah (62%), as opposed to 13,734 students in the recognized
educational system (38%). In the kindergartens there is an
even greater increase: 15,989 children in the chareidi
education system (62.1), as opposed to 9745 students in the
secular and the mamlachti education (37.9%)
The Department for Chareidi Education claims that findings
which point to serious discrimination against the chareidi
educational system, as opposed to the secular and mamlachti
dati system have been presented to a professional committee
which is formulating the plans for the cuts. The department
claims that due to the transfer of the findings, the mayor
has told the committee not to approve the plan until the data
have been examined by the municipality's treasury.
