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Education in the service of politics By Haaretz Editorial Tags: Yuli Tamir, Israel, education Last week Education Minister Yuli Tamir revealed a troubling set of priorities. On the one hand, she cut NIS 85 million from the education budgets of the local authorities; on the other hand, she conducted secret negotiations with MK Nissan Slomiansky of the National Union-National Religious Party. The result: The Education Ministry will restore to the religious public some of the funding cut from its beloved educational institutions and enterprises. The ministry will even throw in tens of millions of shekels, which, Tamir claims, will help "narrow the gaps between well-off and weak authorities." This includes NIS 42 million for National Service; NIS 62 million for yeshiva high schools and for religious girls' secondary schools; and NIS 17 million for pre-army preparatory programs - a total of NIS 121 million. Tamir claims that the money came from the Finance and Defense Ministries, and that it has no connection to the lateral cuts she instituted in the local authorities (which will lead to a reduction in the number of truancy officers and educational psychologists). Still, the question remains: Why did Tamir decide to strengthen the very institutions for which she herself announced budget cuts just months ago? The decision to cut funding for National Service for women aroused much indignation within the religious public, but it was rooted in what was presented as the minister's philosophy: Tamir wanted fewer religious soldier-teachers at secular schools - and especially less of a national-Orthodox ideological agenda. What has changed suddenly since she resolutely announced her intentions? Advertisement Tamir's conduct gives rise to the concern that she not only prefers to forget the well-defined agenda of the state education system, the agenda in whose name she was appointed to her position, but that she is now seeking to appease the religious parties to ensure the stability of the present - or future - coalition. An especially grave reaction to this conduct came last week from the High Court of Justice, when it ruled on the issue of the core curriculum. The justices explicitly took the education minister to task for ignoring the law. Even if Tamir were to claim that she must pay a heavy political price to remain in her post and to carry out important plans, such as the Ofek Hadash (New Horizon) education reform, the price seems to have swelled to gigantic proportions, to the point where it threatens to overshadow the goal. The reform was implemented in 320 schools this year and is supposed to be adopted by another 500 next year, but it remains controversial. Teachers may make more money and spend longer hours at school, but what is actually being added are not more classroom hours, but rather more small-group instruction hours. This is an admirable teaching method, but a problematic one as long as the appropriate infrastructure is not in place. It is too soon to say that New Horizon is not a good scheme, and it should be given the chance to develop; hopefully, it will prove itself in time. But political countermeasures are liable to thwart it. No less dangerous is the capitulation to wealthy figures whose agenda is inconsistent with that of the state education system. Lev Leviev's Zman Masa (Journey Time) curriculum was rejected in the past by the Education Ministry's pedagogical secretariat, but came back, slightly spruced up, and was approved. This is a real threat to the state education system - one that is no less grave than that involved in waiving the core curriculum and supporting pre-army training programs and young women teaching "heritage." The education minister must weigh political survival against the well-being of the state education system, and decide honestly which matters more. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Shin Bet exploitation Is spying for Israel a fair swap for receiving medical treatment? A French feud French satirist denies making anti-Semitic remarks towards President Sarkozy's son.

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