Education Minister Shai Piron Pledges to Delay Cuts to ultra-Orthodox Education

Education Minister Shai Piron recently agreed to delay the budget cuts slated for Shas’ Maayan Hahinukh Hatorani school network and United Torah Judaism’s Hinukh Atzma’i schools by a few months, during a meeting with Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri, Piron’s party, Yesh Atid said on Monday night.

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The Yesh Atid announcement stated that the decision would be re-evaluated after the Education Ministry sets up a state-run Haredi school system next year.

The latter is one of several historic decisions relating to ultra-Orthodox education made recently, including the instatement of a mandatory core curriculum and the cancellation of the Nahari Law, which obligated local authorities to fund non-state schools.

Piron was authorized by his party to submit to the Knesset, within six months, a comprehensive law mandating a core curriculum in Haredi schools. The Yesh Atid announcement said the agreement with Deri doesn’t undermine the plan to implement the core curriculum throughout the Haredi educational system.

Deri said Monday, “I came to an agreement with Finance Minister Yair Lapid that there won’t be cuts to the Haredi school networks. This is the start of a dialogue that is very important and necessary to all of us.”