The plan that will dismantle the education system and lead to a long strike; Yuli Tamir: "Bad idea"

The "Aleinu" organization is promoting a plan to transfer school management to local authorities and employ teachers on personal contracts. The plan, already included in Bennett's platform and under review by the Finance Ministry, is expected to trigger a teachers' strike of at least three months. Prof. Yuli Tamir, former Minister of Education, calls it a "bad idea" and warns of severe educational and social damage.

The "Aleinu - The Founding Grandchildren" organization is promoting a revolutionary plan for structural change in the Israeli education system, called "Pinu-Binui" (Evacuation-Construction). The plan seeks to transfer school management to local authorities and education networks, and to employ teachers on personal contracts instead of through the state. The plan has already found its way into Naftali Bennett's platform and onto the desk of the Finance Ministry. The plan's architects estimate that its implementation will trigger a teachers' strike of at least three months, possibly a full year. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said in a podcast that he is "very radical" regarding the education system and that preparations should be made for a year of strike. The organization prepared a "strike kit" including compensation for parents: 40 shekels per hour of supervision, up to a ceiling of 6,000 shekels per month per family. Prof. Yuli Tamir, former Minister of Education, sharply criticized the plan, calling it a "bad idea." According to her, the system will be less efficient when management is transferred to local authorities, and the mechanism will bloat. She warned that a long strike would be a huge damage to children who have already suffered from a lack of educational continuity due to the coronavirus and wars. Tamir noted that a strike in elementary education and kindergartens costs the economy half a billion shekels per day, and called for making change with educators, not against them.