Education Minister Kisch: 'There is no management crisis, it's fake'

Education Minister Yoav Kisch dismissed claims of a staffing crisis in the education system, calling them 'fake'. According to him, only about 500 teachers are missing, not about a thousand principals as reported. Kisch also addressed the demand of the Teachers' Union secretary-general to limit the integration of special education students, and presented interim findings on membership lists in the Teachers' Organization, including about 20,000 inactive members. The Teachers' Organization responded by calling the publication 'false and baseless'.

Education Minister Yoav Kisch today (Wednesday) dismissed claims of a staffing crisis in the education system, less than three weeks before the start of the school year. "We are not in a crisis regarding principals; it's fake," he said. According to him, reports of a shortage of about a thousand principals are incorrect, and currently only about 500 teachers are missing. "We have over 200,000 teaching staff. They say thousands of teachers are leaving, but we are also absorbing new ones, and compared to last year, the situation is much better." Kisch addressed the demand of the Teachers' Union secretary-general Yafa Ben David, published on Walla, not to integrate more than two students eligible for special education services in a regular classroom. "This claim is not anchored in the labor agreement nor as a cry," he said, but added: "There is such a request, and we are examining it." Regarding classroom overcrowding, he said there is a multi-year plan to reduce class sizes, but the war delayed its implementation. Kisch also presented interim findings from the Ministry of Education's examination of membership lists in the Teachers' Organization and the funds transferred for them. According to him, nearly 20,000 registered members were found to be inactive, and about 8,000 who, he claims, were not on teaching staffs at all. The ministry is checking whether funds were improperly transferred to the organization as a result. According to Kisch, about 400-500 shekels per year are transferred to teachers' organizations for each member. He claimed there was "an attempt by Ran Erez to flood us with lists," and clarified that if it turns out the conduct goes beyond registration errors, he will act to continue the investigation: "I will not lend my hand to attempts on public funds. If there is a criminal event here, we will also demand a criminal investigation." Alongside dealing with the shortage of teaching staff and classroom overcrowding, Kisch pointed to another challenge for the upcoming school year: adapting the education system to the development of artificial intelligence. "Our central challenge is integrating AI into the education system," he said. In addition, he referred to the new director-general's circular regulating relations between parents and educational staff, defining it as "a very important move that did not exist until today." The Teachers' Organization responded: "This is a false and baseless publication intended solely to serve Kisch's personal attempt to evade the serious accusations leveled against him by the Teachers' Organization in light of his failures and shortcomings as Education Minister and the state of the education system under his management. The timing of the false publication is not coincidental - on the eve of the Likud primaries and following the Teachers' Organization's harsh campaign against him, Kisch is trying to divert public attention from the facts with fabrications and lies against the Teachers' Organization."