MKs protest halt to government vouchers for immigrants’ Hebrew-language classes
Private ulpans and new immigrants scramble to cope after coalition, without warning, cuts off funding for lessons
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Lawmakers accused the government of causing financial hardship and inconvenience to new immigrants on Tuesday, following the Immigration and Absorption Ministry’s decision to halt the distribution of vouchers for lessons at private Hebrew-language schools earlier this month.
Over the better part of the past decade, new immigrants have been given the choice between learning Hebrew at state-run language schools known as ulpans or receiving vouchers to cover the cost of private instruction.
However, these payments abruptly ceased without warning on March 6, leaving both the private schools and students unable to prepare for the change.
“Without the voucher program, there will be thousands of immigrants who will not be able to study in private ulpans in a manner that suits them,” Ami Steinberger of the privately run Ulpan La-Inyan testified before the Knesset Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee.
“We have a financial commitment to teachers who receive a salary from us, and without prior notice, the Immigration and Absorption Ministry changed its policy on funding the vouchers,” added Janet Weinberg, director of the Organization of Immigrant Engineers and Architects.
When a new immigrant studies at a state-run ulpan, their tuition is automatically paid to the school by the government. When they study at a private ulpan, they pay their own tuition and then request reimbursement from the government.
“I am a mother of a small baby and learning in a private ulpan allows me to study at convenient hours and [even] online, something that doesn’t happen in the state ulpans,” one new immigrant identified as Carolina explained.
Even if the government had decided to completely halt funding for private ulpans, it should have provided time to prepare for such a policy change, declared committee chairman MK Oded Forer (Yisrael Beytenu), asserting that competition between the state-run and private language schools “will only produce better instruction for the immigrants.”
Former Yesh Atid MK Dov Lipman, the CEO of Yad L’Olim, a group that advocates for immigrants, argued that without private ulpans, many new immigrants will be forced to contend with, among other issues, large class sizes, inconvenient schedules and a lack of language schools near their homes.
Last August, following extended talks and more than 15 committee hearings on the matter, state ulpan instructors finally reached a wage agreement with the Education Ministry — helping to resolve a major shortage of teachers that had caused significant delays for thousands of new immigrants in learning the language.
Employees of state ulpans had long complained of poor salaries and work conditions, leading many to leave for better-paying jobs as teachers in other schools. The problem was exacerbated by an influx of Russian and Ukrainian immigrants sparked by the ongoing war between the two countries.
In an effort to relieve the backlog, Immigration and Absorption Minister Ofir Sofer — in one of his first acts — allocated an additional NIS 20 million ($5.4 million) for vouchers for private Hebrew-language instruction on Tuesday, doubling the ministry’s budget for private lessons.
Following the signing of the wage agreement, the ministry announced the allocation of an additional NIS 3.5 million ($953,000) for vouchers.
“Currently, every new immigrant who requests a voucher will get one. Since the beginning of 2023, we have distributed some 6,000 vouchers for Hebrew studies,” a ministry official told the Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee at the time.
Responding to lawmakers’ criticism on Tuesday, Ministry Deputy Director General Sivan Goldstein-Haber told the committee that there are currently some 4,000 immigrants in the voucher track, with an additional 1,000 who are eligible “but have not yet exercised their entitlement.”
“Until the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the budget of the Immigration and Absorption Ministry for the private ulpans through vouchers was NIS 20 million. We are going to reduce the increased budget of the private ulpans that existed during the war in Ukraine and adapt it to the current situation,” she said.
Responsible use of public money means that the government felt it had to temporarily suspend the voucher system, but over the “coming weeks we will formulate the new policy for receiving private vouchers,” she continued, asserting that the ministry had “no intention of closing the private ulpans.”
“We hope to reach the distribution of 5,000 vouchers per year,” Goldstein-Haber added, promising that “everyone who was entitled to a voucher will receive the money for the private ulpan.”
Private ulpans have become increasingly popular over the years because they allow new immigrants to choose the school “that suits them,” both in terms of time and style, explained New Hope MK Ze’ev Elkin, expressing skepticism that this has changed.
Promising another hearing to stay on top of the issue, MK Forer welcomed Goldstein-Haber’s goal of distributing 5,000 vouchers, but insisted that the ministry engage in a dialogue with private ulpans before decisions are made on the issue.
“You have to stay vigilant” when it comes to issues impacting new immigrants, Yad L’Olim’s Lipman told The Times of Israel, citing a recent Transportation Ministry decision requiring an apostille on foreign drivers’ licenses before they could be converted to Israeli permits that was rescinded following public pressure.
Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report.
