Sa'ar: Zero tolerance for violence
Photo: Dudi Vaaknin
Netanyahu earlier in Modi'in
Photo: AFP
Education minister: No plans to 'Judaize' Arab schools
Gideon Sa'ar says next year's school plan will include course on Israeli heritage and culture
Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar responded to fears expressed by the Arab sector regarding his plans to teach Zionist subjects in schools.
"I have no intention of 'Judaizing' anyone and no one has heard me say I would impose the national anthem on the Arab schools," he told students at a Shfaram high school, which he visited together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"I mean to start a new program in grades 4-9 called Heritage and Israeli Culture, in which students will study the Hebrew calendar, the flag, and the national anthem."
Regarding violence in schools, the education minister said he would initiate a zero tolerance policy towards any case in which acts of aggression were aimed against principals and teachers on school grounds. He said any such behavior would warrant police involvement.
Sa'ar also promised to "invest effort, thought, and funds in order to promote education amongst Muslims, Druze, Circassians, and Bedouins," sectors which he said constitute 40% of classes in Israel's schools.
On his end, the prime minister also promised to allot more funds to schools. "The first and most important thing is to close gaps, and as part of this I mean to make sure this place gets air conditioning," he began after having sat in the hot and unaired classroom.
