Israel’s education crisis deepened today as the Government announced that it will not negotiate with the organized high school teachers unless the latter call off the partial strike which they started yesterday.
The high school teachers opened their partial strike by cutting down the number of classes they are assigned to conduct. They are demanding regrading and higher salaries. The Government fears, however, that if the high school teachers’ demands are met, elementary school teachers will insist on the same pay hikes. There are about 2, 000 teachers in Israel’s high schools, and about 22, 000 in the elementary schools.
The high school teachers’ demand would increase the wage scales by about 30 percent. Since many of Israel’s high schools are privately owned by various cooperatives, organizations or business enterprises, the teachers believe that the parents of high school students would not mind paying higher fees to meet salary increases.
The Government’s position, however, is that, if a separate agreement were to be made with the high school teachers, where parents are able to pay higher tuition fees, the result would amount to discrimination against students from families that could not afford the higher tuition. A convention of representatives of all teachers in the country is scheduled for tomorrow.
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