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1 Av 5759 - July 14, 1999 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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News
Public Figures Express Concern About New Education Minister's Remarks

by Betzalel Kahn

Chareidi public figures have expressed concern over remarks made last week by Education Minister Yossi Sarid, about his intentions to institute an extremist-liberal line in the Education Ministry. Sarid went so far as to say he will open schools to propaganda campaigns of unseemly organizations. These remarks were made within the framework of his declaration that his activities in the Education Ministry will be in the spirit of the Meretz ideology of: "Educate the youth according to our way." He also said that his Ministry would actively intervene in curriculum planning for Chinuch Atzmai schools.

Chareidi public figures said that these remarks are very disturbing and that UTJ Knesset members must be on the alert to thwart the destructive intentions of a number of government ministers.

In an interview with the press, Yossi Sarid said: "This Government is a government of change (shinui) and the Education Ministry is also one of change." He then added that unlike his predecessors in the Education Ministry -- Hammer and Levi, who emphasized Jewish studies -- his emphasis will be different. "This time, more emphasis will be placed on the study of democracy and citizenship." Regarding the Jewish heritage courses given in the state schools, Sarid said: "We won't let anyone have a monopoly on them." Sarid summarized his remarks by saying that he would make certain that the State educational system conforms to his values and those of his party, and is in line with the policy of "educate the youth according to our way."

Sarid said that he "wants to see an educational system which produces enlightened, tolerant human beings with pluralistic world views; educated people with deeply ingrained values of democracy, equality and humanism." Sarid then added that he intends to offer extensive assistance to particular organization which the religious public considers unseemly, organizations of the very worst kind, and that his Ministry will open the doors of the schools to those organizations, so that they can peddle their wares. "If in the past they were out of bounds, today they will be legitimate," he said.

In reference to the chareidi and Torah educational systems, Sarid said that he intends to instate a joint curriculum for all educational systems, including the Chinuch Atzmai. "This isn't a quick process, but I am determined to see it through," he said, "because it is totally inconceivable that the State should subsidize educational systems without having a say in them. This must be done urgently."

Former Education Minister Yitzchok Levi said, "Sarid's remarks were so predictable, that it is surprising that he waited 24 hours from the time he took office in order to spout them."

In reaction to Sarid's remarks, MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni said, "Yossi Sarid has proven from the outset that his appointment to the position of Education Minister was a forbidden act. During a period in which parents who send their children to State schools are afraid of the violence raging there, and the idea of stationing police in schools due to crimes committed within their walls is under consideration, the only recourse is to increase Jewish education and education toward mitzvah observance, along the lines of the chareidi schools. But Yossi Sarid is busy toying with dangerous, vain statements.

"We will turn to the Prime Minister with an unequivocal demand that he stop such talk which is, cholila, liable to lead to implementation. True, the coalition agreement determines that the status of the chareidi chinuch will be preserved. However, we are worried about the future of the more than one million Jewish children who are being educated in State schools. In light of what is happening in this system, a change must occur, but it must be the precise opposite of the degenerate one Sarid is seeking," Rabbi Gafni said.


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