The Education Ministry has announced that it has revoked its decision to exclude students at ultra-Orthodox educational institutions from postwar rehabilitation funds for the north.

The decision follows severe criticism leveled at the ministry by the Knesset Education Committee on Wednesday.

Approximately NIS 170 million out of a planned NIS 700 million have already been invested in the program to strengthen the education system in the north.

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The program is being jointly financed by the Education Ministry and various funds.

48 percent of the funds already invested in the program have been allotted to the Jewish sector. The rest will go towards the Arab sector.

The funds will be used to finance the construction of new classrooms, hiring psychologists and educational advisors, and purchasing computers as well as science and technology equipment.

"We have reached an understanding with the ultra-Orthodox institutions, according to which they will teach our core curriculum for the first time and we will finance the purchase of computers and science and technology equipment for them," an Education Ministry spokesperson said.

United Torah Judaism Mk Moshe Gafni said that "there is no connection between the revocation of the decision and the implementation of the core curriculum in ultra-Orthodox schools."

"The ministry came to its senses and realized that ultra-Orthodox students in the north are also in need of aid," said the chairman of the Movement for Quality Education, Attorney Ruth Dayan-Madar. "The decision to exclude ultra-Orthodox schools and kindergartens from the rehabilitation plan was illegal and in violation of the right to equal education."