Naval Academy
צילום: איי פי
Teachers following Olmert to Annapolis
Israeli teachers to hold rally outside Mideast peace conference. 'Prime minister trying to escape to far away places in order to avoid the moral and educational problems at home,' they say
A delegation of Israeli teachers is expected to leave for Annapolis, Maryland Thursday night, where they plan to hold a rally "to remind Ehud Olmert of the troubles at home".
Referring to the strike launched more than a months ago by the Middle and High School Teachers' Association, Ronny Phiro, a teacher from Ort Jerusalem, said "we realize that the prime minister is trying to escape to far away places in order to avoid the moral and educational problems that are occurring right under his nose, so we decided not to let him run.
"It's not that the security issue is not important, but there are others that are just as urgent or even more," he said, adding that the rally will be held opposite the United States Naval Academy, which will host the next week's US –brokered Mideast peace conference.
'Soon he'll be forced to ask for soldiers'
The teachers are striking in protest of what they consider to be low wages and poor working conditions.
"We, the teachers, don't have a lot of money, particularly after striking for a month, so only a few of us will be able to make the trip – but we are getting help from the Teachers' Association," Phiro said.
According to him, should the teachers run into Olmert during the conference, they will urge him to personally intervene in the education crisis, as "only he can authorize a deviation from the current budget".
Ettie Shik, who teaches history at the "Hartov" school in Tsora, said "it is good that the security issues are being dealt with, but the domestic problems, which are just as dangerous to our existence, must also be resolved.
"Today Olmert is asking for aid in the form of helicopters and tanks, but soon he'll be forced to ask for soldiers, because the problem is that young men and women do not want to enlist in the IDF due to poor education," she said.
