High schools to close nationwide Sunday to protest violence against teachers

The national union of high school teachers announces a one-day nationwide strike of all high schools on Sunday over the growing phenomenon of violence directed at teachers by students.

The strike was precipitated by reports Wednesday of a student who broke a wooden bar on a teacher’s head in a school in the southern Bedouin town of Tel Sheva, the union says. The teacher lost consciousness and was hospitalized, while police have launched an investigation.

“Are we waiting until a teacher is murdered in Israel before advancing legislation that will up the punishments and deter students from attacking teachers?” Hadashot news quotes union chief Ran Erez as saying.

The union has drafted a bill that would define teachers as public servants, and thus include them under an existing law that demands heightened sentences for attacks against public servants. It is urging lawmakers to take up the bill in the current Knesset session.