A district court fined the Education Ministry NIS 13,500
($3,500) for violating the Freedom of Information Law by
hiding an NIS 1 million study on the results of math
achievement tests for first- and second-graders that showed
the superiority of a method developed by two chareidi
teachers from Bnei Brak.
In her decision the judge noted that Education Ministry
officials knowingly committed perjury by claiming that they
did not have the test results in their possession.
The study, which was commissioned to find the best teaching
method for math, assessed the six methods used at primary
schools in Israel. Researchers observed how the material was
taught and at the end of the study, achievement tests were
administered to the first- and second-grade students who took
part.
Afterwards the Education Ministry suppressed the results of
the achievement tests which showed that the most successful
method was Mishtalem Batevi'im, a method developed by
two chareidi teachers from Bnei Brak who published textbooks
based on it. Those involved in developing this teaching
method knew the true results and demanded that the Education
Ministry publish the findings.
Officials claimed after-the-fact that the true aim was not to
harm the chareidi-developed method so much as to hide the
fact that the method developed by Matach (the Center for
Educational Technology), an institution with close ties to
the Education Ministry, came in last place.
In any case, the Mishtalem Batevi'im group took the matter to
court, and the Education Ministry responded in court by
saying that it did not have the results. Meanwhile the matter
also reached the Knesset Education Committee. In preparation
for the Knesset meeting, Committee Chairman Michael Melchior
(Labor) demanded that the ranking Education Ministry
officials on hand bring him the test scores, but at first
they also told him that they didn't have the scores. Later in
the meeting they were compelled to admit they did in fact
have the scores, but they said that could not find the
study.
MK Melchior grew irate. In a press release he wrote, "The
Education Ministry is hiding the scores from the public more
carefully than the State of Israel hides its atomic secrets."
Melchior lodged harsh criticism against Chief Scientist Prof.
Sidney Strauss, who hid the scores from the committee
members, and forced Strauss to publicize the results.
Strauss released them about a month ago, but the Education
Ministry avoided bringing the scores to public notice. It
issued neither a statement from the Ministry Spokesman nor a
director-general's circular on the matter. The results were
published in an obscure place, so that to this day the
teachers and parents have yet to be informed of the
scores.
Jerusalem District Court President Judge Moussia Arad decided
to fine the Education Ministry for concealing the study
results for so long, saying that it only released the study
after heavy pressure, and that by concealing it from the
public the Ministry denied teachers and parents information
on the best way to teach math to their students and
children.
MK Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz told Yated Ne'eman that the
affair appears to be a case of very severe corruption. "An
independent committee of inquiry should be set up immediately
to find out who was responsible for hiding the data and what
his true motivations were. Was it a case of monetary bribery
and bad faith by giving preferential treatment to individuals
with close ties to the Education Ministry, or was it simply a
case of hatred toward chareidim, which is even graver?"
Rabbi Ravitz notes that the court did not act prudently by
imposing a monetary fine on the Education Ministry, since
that essentially means transferring funds from one government
ministry to another, i.e. a Chelmian act of switching money
from one pocket to the other. "The officials who caused the
financial damage to the teachers involved were the ones who
should have had to bear the punishment, and the matter is
cause for a police inquiry."
MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni told Yated Ne'eman, "The affair
is very serious and ranking Education Ministry officials
should look into the matter and find out how it happened that
the most successful teaching method, which was developed by
chareidi teachers from Bnei Brak, was concealed from the
public in such a methodical and deliberate way." Rabbi Gafni
noted that he raised the matter before the Education
Committee and has yet to receive the ministry's reply. He
suggested that the ministry officials responsible for the
failure pay the fine themselves, saying it is unreasonable
for the public to pay for deeds perpetrated by a number of
officials who did not want to see chareidi teachers honored,
and in so doing harmed the entire public by maintaining
outdated teaching methods that failed to prove themselves in
the field.
