Existing law does not require local authorities to insure
students enrolled at private schools such as Chinuch Atzmai
and talmudei Torah, according to information that came
to light during a tempestuous meeting of the Knesset State
Control Committee on Monday.
Committee Chairman MK Amnon Cohen (Shas) demanded that the
Education Ministry initiate an amendment to the law within
three months to ensure that every student in Israel is
entitled to personal accident insurance.
MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni lodged harsh criticism over the present
discrimination against the chareidi education system, where a
student who sustains an injury in an accident is not eligible
for compensation. "Why is it that if a child from Chinuch
Atzmai and Maayan Hachinuch HaTorani is injured there is
nobody to take care of him, while in the Budget Foundation
Law children in Chinuch Atzmai and Maayan Hachinuch HaTorani
are defined the same as other yaldei Yisroel?" he
asked.
Rabbi Gafni also noted that in the budget negotiations UTJ
asked to restore the funding the Finance Ministry Accountant-
General took away from the Education Ministry for insuring
students in the chareidi education system, "and for this we
are attacked as blackmailers. Why? Why is there no talk about
the grave discrimination against the chareidi education
system compared to the other education systems?"
During the committee meeting it was reported that half of all
children in Israel are injured every year in accidents that
transpire on the way to school, at school, at home and during
leisure time. One hundred-and-eighty thousand children are
taken to emergency rooms, 20,000 are hospitalized and 200 are
killed as a result of injury.
According to the law, the local authorities must insure
students enrolled within their jurisdiction, but the Local
Authority Comptroller investigated and found that the law
does not require them to insure children studying in
independent educational networks, notably the chareidi
networks. It was also found that insurance policies were not
submitted for the approval of the insurance commissioner, in
violation of the Insurance Transactions Law. The inspection
also revealed that Klal Insurance, which won the tender to
provide insurance, charged several local authorities premiums
above the predetermined maximum amount.
Some local authorities, such as Jerusalem and Tiberius,
insure all students in their jurisdictions even though the
law does not require insurance for students enrolled in
independent networks.
Company representatives from Klal Insurance claimed at the
committee meeting that certain local counsels were required
to pay larger premiums because they lacked uninterrupted
insurance payments.
The Education Minister Director-General said as part of
changes in the general law affecting the education system
following the Dovrat Report the law in this area would be
amended as well.
