Education minister: Students won’t start school year in displaced northern towns
Kisch presents local leaders with NIS 152 million plan for educational institutions outside war zone in north for students; Gantz says decision ‘expected and frustrating’
Education Minister Yoav Kisch on Tuesday told the heads of local authorities that students from northern communities evacuated because of the war would not be able to return to school in their hometowns in September and would instead continue to attend schools elsewhere in Israel.
Kisch wrote in a statement that this was due to the “security complexities” in the region, which has been subject to incessant rocket fire and drone attacks by the Hezbollah terror group from Lebanon since the beginning of the war against Hamas in Gaza on October 7.
Calling the decision not to start the school year in the affected northern communities “regrettable,” Kisch called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “act now, strongly, against the state of Lebanon.”
“There is no escaping the decision to wage a massive war against Lebanon in order to restore peace and stability to the residents of the north and for the future of the State of Israel,” he said.
Of 60,000 civilians relocated from northern Israel at the outset of the war, 14,600 are children, scattered in kindergartens and schools or makeshift premises throughout the country’s interior. The evacuated residents do not yet know when they will be able to return to their homes.
During the meeting, held at the Asher Regional Council, Federation of Local Authorities chair Haim Bibas presented Kisch with concerns over scheduling in the upcoming school year that regional authorities had been warning about for several months, the federation said in a statement.
צר לי מאוד לשמוע שמערכת החינוך בצפון לא תיפתח כסדרה – על אף שזה היה צפוי.
כאשר ירי הטילים נמשך ואין הכרעה צבאית או הסכם מדיני – אי אפשר להחזיר את החיים לשגרה.
קיימנו היום כינוס מיוחד במטה אשר בהשתתפות שר החינוך יואב קיש וראשי רשויות מהצפון ומפורום קו העימות.
ביקשנו מהשר קיש… pic.twitter.com/yKIjO1Sv9Q
— חיים ביבס – Haim Bibas (@BibasHaim) July 23, 2024
The federation added that Kisch presented a NIS 152 million plan for alternate schools outside of the war-affected areas in the north for the students, so they can attend classes in a more familiar environment.
It is unclear if these facilities will be ready by the start of the academic year on September 1.
“I asked Minister Kisch to increase the budget for educational institutions in the north and remove bureaucratic obstacles so that we can open the school year as routinely as possible,” Bibas said in a statement.
“It needs to be understood: 25 percent of northern residents have not signed their children up for schools for the coming academic year. This means that a large portion also won’t return to live in the north, and this is a disaster for an entire region,” he wrote.
“If there isn’t a decision soon, this number will only grow. The country must wake up, make difficult decisions, and restore security by force or diplomacy. The current situation is destroying what we built here for decades. The time has come for a decision.”
Asher Regional Council chair Moshe Davidovich said in a statement that it was impossible to open the school year per routine, adding that he expects “all the cabinet ministries to come to the north together with the professionals and hold operative meetings so that we can see results on the ground.”
National Unity chair Benny Gantz said Kisch’s decision was “expected and frustrating” and demonstrated a huge strategic failure on the government’s part.
Before withdrawing from the government, “I told Netanyahu that the biggest operative challenge is the north, and I demanded to shift the resources [from the south] and end [the war in the north] through an agreement or an escalation,” Gantz said.
הודעתו של שר החינוך ששנת הלימודים בצפון לא תיפתח – צפויה ומתסכלת.
זהו כישלון אדיר של הממשלה שנובע מכשל אסטרטגי של ראש הממשלה, שהוביל אותנו לשם ביודעין.לפני חודשים אמרתי לנתניהו, שהאתגר האופרטיבי הגדול ביותר הוא בצפון, ודרשתי להעביר לשם את המשאבים ולסיים בהסדרה או הסלמה.
זה… pic.twitter.com/hjWexmDbpU
— בני גנץ – Benny Gantz (@gantzbe) July 23, 2024
Channel 12 quoted Netanyahu in May telling the cabinet that it was okay to delay the return of northern residents, while Gantz insisted on the government make a decision that would allow them to return by September 1 for the start of the school year.
The comments stoked anger among residents of the north, who protested on Independence Day, symbolically “seceding” from the state and accusing the government of having “disengaged” from the region.
“Who said September 1 is the goal date,” Netanyahu was quoted as saying in the meeting. “Why do we keep talking about this date — what will happen if they go back a few months later?”
“It didn’t happen, Netanyahu took his time and hesitated,” Gantz wrote Tuesday. “And the ones who pay the price in this situation are students, the thousands of families and communities.”
So far, the skirmishes in the north have resulted in 12 civilian deaths on the Israeli side, as well as the deaths of 18 IDF soldiers and reservists. There have also been several attacks from Syria, without any injuries.
Hezbollah has named 373 members who have been killed by Israel during the ongoing skirmishes, mostly in Lebanon but some also in Syria. In Lebanon, another 68 operatives from other terror groups, a Lebanese soldier, and dozens of civilians have been killed.
Reuters contributed to this report.
