In his capacity as chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee, MK (Yahadut HaTorah) R’ Moshe Gafne decried the current state of affairs regarding state funding for protective buses to transport school children in Yehuda and Shomron. Gafne explained the situation is intolerable, partially due to the fact the issue falls between the cracks of ministries, including the Education, Defense and Transportation Ministries, with each seeking to push the bill to the desk of another government agency.

Settlement Council official Pinchas Wallerstein explained many buses have been pulled off the road at the end of the 2009 school year, explaining that not only have they passed their 10-year service period, but they received a 5-year extension and now, after 15 years of service, they are no longer deemed roadworthy to transport children. As a result, there is presently a critical shortage of protective buses, armor-plated vehicles to transport school children in compliance with directives set forth by the IDF’s Homefront Command.

Wallerstein explained the director of the Prime Minister’s Bureau has committed to NIS 25 million, but the money is not being transferred, apparently entangled in bureaucratic snarls between ministries. There is also the problem of the special armor-plated vehicles used to transport special education children, vehicles capable of transporting wheelchair-bound children and other special needs. MK (Kadima) Yaakov Edri called for immediate funding; explaining the matter is one of pikuach nefesh of the school children in the communities throughout Yehuda and Shomron.

A treasury official told the committee that the fault rests with the Defense Ministry, which has not even made a request for the funds necessary.

Gafne stated he is pushing the matter forward via the Defense Ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office, seeking to find a plausible explanation for the bureaucratic foot-dragging at the expense of the safety of school children.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)