Olmert in north: I see you can cope

Olmert promised that "together we will make a real and serious joint effort so that our Galilee will become a place of joy, a place of pride and a place in which the life and future of the State of Israel flourish. Have a successful school year, good luck to everyone, and a happy new year to everyone."

According to Olmert, "education is the State's most important resource. It's the security and economy, it's all we can be."

About 20 members of the Movement for Quality Government in Israel demonstrated outside the school which the prime minister visited and accompanied his entourage throughout the entire tour of the north. The movement demands that a state commission of inquiry into the Lebanon war failures is established.

Ehud Olmert (R) and Yuli Tamir open new school year (Photo: Ahiya Raved)

The Maale Hagalil School principal, Gila Michael, expressed her hope that Gilad Shalit would be released soon. The prime minister also addressed the issue, noting that the new school year in the north had a special meaning in light of the summer's difficult incidents.  

Avi Karampa, head of the Maaleh Yosef Regional Council, noted that "people here are not traumatized. It was difficult, but trauma is a word invented somewhere else, and we as people who saw Hizbullah on the fence know how important this operation was. If there is need for further such operations in order to defend the Galilee, we back the government."

Education Minister Yuli Tamir opened the school year in an optimistic atmosphere at the Kiryat Hinuch Maale Hagalil school in Hatzor Haglilit.

"We were very impressed by the preparedness of the educations institutions in the north, and particularly those which were seriously damaged by the heavy firing of rockets in the past summer," she said.

According to Tamir, "the studying conditions in the place are definitely appropriate and the complete renovation of the institutions is expected to end by the end of the Succot vacation."

After visiting one of the kindergartens in the area, the minister made her way to the ORT school compound, where she remained till the first bell rang. The children stood in the yard excited following the tough summer they went through.

"It's not easy to undergo such experiences like the children of the north went through. In the first days, alongside the normal curriculum, we will focus on classroom discussions which will deal with the children's experiences in the past summer," Tamir said.

Yuli Tamir with first-graders in Hatzor Haglilit (Photo: Hagai Aharon)

The education minister added that "the schoolteachers, the kindergarten teachers and the rest of the education people have undergone continuing education programs and a special training by psychologists and professionals in order to receive the tools to deal with the difficult questions and provide the sense of support and help the children need these days."

Minister Tamir continued her tour of kindergartens and schools in the Upper Galilee and Galilee panhandle, and is later expected to visit several education institutions in the Western Galilee area. So far she received positive reports on the opening of the school year and according to Education Ministry officials, "this is one of the most successful school openings the education system in Israel has seen in recent years, in spite of the difficulties it has dealt on the security and technological aspects."

Hagai Einav and Roee Mandel contributed to the report