The central committee of the General Zionist Party decided tonight to call on Speaker Joseph Sprinzak to convene the Israel Parliament for immediate discussion of the Government decision to transfer the teachers seminary at Beth Hakerem from the General Zionists to the joint control of the government and Hebrew University. Parliament is now in recess and is not due to reconvene until next month.
The transfer would remove the seminary from the General Zionist educational “trend” and make it a “non-trend” government institution. According to the General Zionists, this action is in violation of the agreement reached last year between Premier David Ben Gurion and the religious groups to continue the status quo in educational policies.
Dr. Benzion Dinaburg, Minister of Education, told a press conference today that from a formal and legal viewpoint, the seminary comes within the purview of the State as do all other seminaries. The Government, he said, was not usurping the property of the General Zionists or of anyone else.
The Government’s aim, he said, was to prepare highly qualified teachers who, after graduation, could teach in any of the “trends” they liked. The high teaching classification, he said, could be guaranteed only by the Hebrew University in coordination with the government.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
