The two major student unions announced Monday they intend to go on strike as part of their struggle against the Shochat Committee that prepares a reform for the higher education system.

The Tel Aviv University student union said it would go on strike Wednesday, while the student organization (which represents students of 39 colleges) announced it would resume its strike after the Passover holiday in mid-April.

The national student union, representing all university students and some colleges, might also announce it joins the strike.

	Advertisement

The Shochat Committee, headed by former finance minister Avraham Shochat, is reviewing proposals to raise tuition fees and to introduce personal contracts for hiring university lecturers, as well and other measures that would accelerate the privatization of the higher education system.

The student protest against the reform is the widest since the large student strike in 1998, which led to the establishment of the Winograd Committee on tuition fees.

The government endorsed Winograd's recommendations, which included a 50 percent reduction of tuition fees, but in practice fees have been reduced only by 26 percent.

The students have three main demands: The implementation of the Winograd Committee recommendations in full, canceling a NIS 1 billion cut in the education budget, and dismantling the Shochat Committee and replacing it with a panel headed by a judge, which would have proportionate representation of all parties to the debate over the future of the higher education system.