Parents threaten to boycott school trips to Auschwitz
Education Ministry ups level of religious standards for food supplied to students on school delegation to Poland but parents say change has resulted in $600 rise in trip fees, making it accessible only to the wealthy
They are said to strengthen Jewish identity and connect the younger generation to the rest of the country, but school journeys to Poland have proven they can be a source of bitter division between the secular and the religious, the affluent and the underprivileged.
The recent strife surrounds an Education Ministry decision to compel schools to supply strictly kosher provisions for the delegations, which according to parents at the Navon High School in Holon has raised the cost of the trip by over $600.
"This educational endeavor has become a well-oiled commercialized market," the parents told Ynet, demanding that the State subsidize the journeys. In the meantime parents have elected not to send their children to the trip, which they say is only designed for the wealthy.
"It's not that the children weren't given kosher food before this new decree," explains Ronit Goldberg, one of the parents leading the boycott, "it just wasn't given official certification."
In a letter circulated amongst the school's parents Goldberg asserts that the State's decision has raised the price required of parents to hand over from $1,100 to over $1,700.
According to Goldberg the substantial markup had resulted in barely a quarter of the 11th grade's 200-strong student body signing up for the upcoming trip.
But in a show of solidarity the parents of the 52 youths who did register for the journey met over the course of the weekend and with a 49-3 majority vote decided to cancel their children's participation. Furthermore, a demonstration organized by the parents is scheduled to be held outside the Holon municipality.
Education Ministry: Poland just got more expensive
Education Ministry officials said in response that the rise in fees is mostly a result of increasingly costly expenses in Poland. According to the ministry the additional payment being charged for the kosher food is only $66 per student.
The ministry stressed that the maximum amount that could be charged by schools for the trip was fixed
and that "no educational institute was allowed to charge anything beyond that predetermined sum."
The ministry also announced on Sunday that the State would subsidize 11% of the trip for students partaking in upcoming delegations. Students from a low socio-economic status would receive scholarships.
