Israeli public schools opened for the new school year on Thursday, 28 Menachem Av and the Education Ministry’s Chareidi Unit provided the following information.

While over 2 million children returned to their classrooms on Thursday, 410,000 are counted in the chareidi district in addition to 58 girls who remained home, still without a school.

The ministry’s appeals committee received 221 requests for assistance this year of which 169 were addressed to the satisfaction of parents, 34 were dismissed, and 18 are still being addressed. Last year there were only 75 complaints. It is explained the reason for the sharp increase is that this year, the committee also accepted complaints from elementary schools and kindergartens.

On a more positive note, this year 58 girls were left without a school on opening day as compared to 222 last year. The Chareidi Unit of the Ministry also granted operating licenses to 90% of chareidi schools by opening day this year as opposed to only 50% last year. Seeking to diminish red tape, the licensing today is good for up to five years instead of requiring annual renewal but in practice, most schools were licensed for less than five years as per the decision of authorities granting the licenses.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)