A meeting of the Knesset Education Committee on Monday to
discuss including kindergartens in the extended-school-day
program (yom limmudim aroch) grew heated when MK Rabbi
Moshe Gafni accused Education Minister Yuli Tamir (Labor) of
effectively declaring war on chareidi education. Ms. Tamir
replied that she does not intend to fund any private
kindergartens, whether they belong to the chareidi or the
Arab sectors.
Rabbi Gafni said that the chareidi public is discriminated
against in matters of education more than any other sector,
whether on the issue of busing, construction, renovation,
licensing or early retirement. "You bear the responsibility
for the extreme statements made to the media by the director
of your ministry," he told Ms. Tamir. "[He said] one-third of
all Israeli kindergartners are [enrolled] in the recognized
but not official education system, which is mostly chareidi,
and receive greater funding. That's what the Ministry
Director said.
"Boruch Hashem we are blessed with a high natural
birth rate, which is something you cannot prevent. Everybody
knows the chareidi public is discriminated against more than
any other sector.
"Arab education is different. There they have the option of
government education, which does not exist for us. No matter
what you do, even if you try to force me to do otherwise, I
will send my child to the chareidi education system. Under no
circumstances will I send my child to a government school,
even if a decision is made not to provide me funding."
Minister Tamir's decision has international ramifications,
said Rabbi Gafni, since it means that a chareidi family
cannot educate its children in keeping with its way of life.
"If the chareidi child in his place of residence does not
receive Education Ministry funding, this is a declaration of
war," he said, adding that through her decision Ms. Tamir
goes beyond any of her predecessors, including Limor Livnat,
Shulamit Aloni and Yossi Sarid.
Rabbi Gafni asked to cut the meeting short before the vote on
adding kindergartens to the extended-school-day program in
order to consult with other party members. The committee
chairman granted a recess during which Rabbi Gafni worked
feverishly to induce the Prime Minister's Office and the
Coalition Chairman to postpone the vote until Wednesday so
that he could garner additional support. UTJ is now a partial
member of the government: it holds the chair of the Knesset
Finance Committee but it does not have the ministerial
positions that it would get if a full member of the
coalition. Negotiations towards a full membership of UTJ in
the coalition have not progressed in months, but they are
still open.
