- As stated in the Blue and White platform: “The main asset Israel has is its human capital. Accordingly, we must nurture every individual and make it possible for every young person to realize their potential in the best way imaginable…. A worthy educational system is also the primary instrument for eliminating social gaps, so that every citizen is awarded a true opportunity for economic, cultural and self-actualization.
- Schools in Israel are among the most crowded in the Western world. Crowded classes are violent places. A classroom with thirty-five or more pupils is a place where a teacher can at most be a “policeman” – with no ability to serve as an educator for children who are in need of special attention: be they talented or struggling. The Ministry of Education must prepare a strategic program for expanding the number of classes as well as the number of teachers, and then receive the necessary funding to implement it.
- More than 20% of first graders in Israeli schools learn in Ultra-Orthodox schools. Today, most of the boys studying in these systems will not receive a worthy education that will enable them to integrate into the modern work force. This constitutes an intolerable violation of equality of opportunity. It is important to incentivize schools to teach “core subjects” (English, math, science and civics) and to oversee their successful implementation through periodic testing. Gradually, all funding must be stopped for schools that do not offer these subjects. Producing graduates who have appropriate skills for life for the academic and occupational world of tomorrow constitutes an existential objective for Israel.
- Teachers in Israel receive very low salaries. According to a recent OECD report, even though they teach more hours, the starting pay for elementary school teachers in Israel is 4200 shekels lower than their colleagues on average in developed countries. An Israeli high school teacher earns 50% than the accepted salary in a developed country. This needs to change. Without an outstanding teaching staff, our children will not enjoy a transformative educational adventure and the Israeli economy will not retain its competitive advantage in terms of human resources.
- Accordingly, it is incumbent on us to upgrade the status of teachers and principals – in order to guarantee that our schools’ educational team includes the very best of Israeli society. Our children must be able to learn math and science from teachers with an appropriate background. It is important to strengthen training programs that recruit young professionals who can be integrated as teachers in the educational system. But this is alone is not enough. It is critical to ensure decent salary conditions and reasonably-sized classrooms to keep them in the system.
- The gaps between the social or geographic periphery and Israel’s mainstream in the center of the country, are manifested in the educational system. A girl growing up in a community with higher city taxes and parents with greater ability to pay for private tutors will have better prospects of succeeding in life. Closing these gaps is not just a matter of social justice. Rather it is an important step to gain the benefit of gifted Israeli young people for our common future. We need to continue to provide special resources to schools in poor neighborhoods, including early childhood programs – starting with expanding the teaching staff and ending with a government budget to cover the full payment of class field trips.
- Israel finds itself in an ecological crisis. But the environmental literacy of most graduates the country’s different educational systems is exceedingly low. Environmental and climate related educational programs should be added as mandatory subjects during the elementary and junior high school years. This should not be considered part of the science curriculum, but rather independent courses with weekly time allocations.
- Children grow up in a society where the press and the social media do not always constitute a positive influence. There was never a time of greater need to inculcate values. “Strengthening informal education programs” needs to stop being a “slogan” and become public policy, with youth movements receiving an economic boost that allows them to be part of the school framework a few times a week during afternoon hours.
- Higher education is the key for a healthy economy and an enlightened society. Present trends to provide free university tuition to army veterans or those completing national service should be continued. It is important to ensure that these undergraduate degree programs make students choose from a rich selection of electives during the course of students’ studies. At the same time, we also must offer significant fellowships for advanced degrees in order to guarantee the next generation of outstanding academics, especially in disciplines with great economic importance such as engineering, sciences, computer science, economics and mathematics.
- Many schools promote a prevailing violent culture – both physical and oral – perpetuating prejudice and even racism. We need to strengthen the combined and integrated school systems — systems that bring together students of different backgrounds and teach a moral commitment to tolerance and multi-culturalism. All schools need to embed similar messages and materials in this spirit in their civics, Bible and history classes, allowing Israel’s children to be exposed to a range of perspectives from the cultural and religious mosaic of modern Israel.
