Dozens of college students protested Wednesday at the Rokach Interchange in Tel Aviv against the higher-education reforms proposed by the Shochat Committee. The demonstrators called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to resign for his "neglect of the education system and defeat in the second Lebanon war."

The demonstration was organized by the chair of the National Students Union, Itai Barda. Barda said the demonstration was "a warning to the government to keep its commitments. If it fails to do so, we will make the prime minister pay with his job." Barda was also the driving force behind Wednesday's nationwide strike of 36 colleges.

The strike came after several student organizations refused to abide by the agreement the National Student Association and the National Students Union signed with the government.

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The heads of the university and college student unions are expected to meet Thursday to discuss the agreement. Currently, the majority is unlikely to accept the agreement, as it does not address the students' cardinal demands, which include a reduction in tuition and the restoration of NIS 1 billion to the higher education budget.

Yair Ettinger adds: Three days after the government voted to move ahead with a Shas-proposed bill for a funding reform in the education system, the Knesset passed a preliminary reading of an alternative law to apply the reform only to the ultra-Orthodox system.

According to the new bill, which passed by a majority of 46 to four and was proposed by MK Moshe Gafni of United Torah Judaism (UTJ), local authorities will have to fund schools of the state-recognized, but unofficial system affiliated with Agudat Yisrael and Degel Hatorah, the two segments that make up UTJ, and those of the Shas school system.

The reform the government promotes, which was initiated by MK Meshulam Nahari (Shas), extends to all recognized schools outside the official system, including church schools and other alternative educational frameworks.

One argument against Nahari's proposal is that it will involve funding to Islamic Movement schools. Nahari claims that Gafni's proposal did not win the support of the attorney general, because it extends preferential treatment to ultra-Orthodox schools. However Gafni said his demand to give preference only to the ultra-Orthodox independent schools stems from a 1992 law that gave these schools special status and required the government to fund them.

Shas claims that the main goal of the bill proposed by Gafni, of the primarily Ashkenazi UTJ, is to goad Shas, the Sephardic party in the coalition, and will never pass. "My bill is coordinated with Minister Eli Yishai [Shas]," Gafni responded, adding that he hoped Shas' bill would pass.