The Sentry
Real life stories. Documents. Quotes.
Until 2014 there were only nine inspectors in the [Israeli] Department of Education who were assigned to oversee 4566 chareidi chinuch institutions. This meant that each inspector was accountable for 507 schools, which obviously meant that no serious oversight was even possible. When the government sought to gain control of the schools, the Department of Education worked to “fix” this issue, and in 2019 the number of inspectors increased to 84, who now oversaw 6664 schools. This means that each inspector was now responsible for only 79 institutions. It has now come to light that the current number of inspectors who are trained to check the mosdos hachinuch are a whopping 327! This means that each inspector is merely responsible for about 20 mosdos, and serious scrutiny of the schools is now possible.
Here is part of a speech of Meir Shimoni, former Director of the “Mechoz HaChareidi - Chareidi Department” of the Ministry of Education (the speech was delivered on the 7th Cheshvan 5776):
“There is what goes on above the surface, and then there is what happens below the surface. Above the surface, they are all opposed – why would anyone not be against it? Who wants someone on top of him? They said: ‘For forty years you left us alone, why start telling us what to do now?’
But, beneath the surface, under the radar, by quiet agreement, even the Rabbonim – many of them, at least – and the major politicians – I am in contact with all of them (to be precise: with almost all of them) – they want the Machoz HaChareidi to continue to exist, and they want the inspectors to continue coming to the schools, because they understand that this is for the good of the sector, and for their future – they understand this.
But, above the surface, they say: ‘No one is going to tell us how much to teach, and how to teach, and what to teach, etc., etc.’
But under the surface, it’s clear that they agree, they understand that it’s necessary. Anyone who read the coalition agreement with UTJ and with Shas, I read it, clause for clause, I’m not going to go into the whole back and forth, but it’s clear to me that there is a division of labor: Gafni and Aryeh Deri said something very simple: ‘We will bring the money, and the chinuch, we will leave for the Mechoz HaChareidi.’ How did I come to this conclusion? Because all of the details of the coalition agreements discuss only financial matters. There is no mention of closing down the Mechoz HaChareidi, or getting rid of the inspectors, or of curtailing the inspections, etc. They could have put those things into the agreement… no one can tell them… that alone – that this did not happen [proves what I said]
It is very interesting… what is happening now. What happened with the frum community is easy to explain. For 40… 60 years the State was happy to come to the frum community and say: “Here is five billion shekels, do what you want, how you understand – just don’t bother us.” The frum community was happy with this, and answered: ‘Just leave us alone.’ Everyone settled into this routine – there were some improvements over the years – but in general everything stayed the same… they were not involved in the level of learning, they ignored the quality of teaching – everyone did as he himself understood. Anyone who did something, did so because he understood that so must be done; those who didn’t do was either out of ignorance – or because he was told not to.
Now, since we established the “Chareidi Department,” two years ago (Perhaps a bit before that, when there was the “Branch of ‘Recognized, but Unofficial [Mosdos]’) –all this has changed. The central purpose of this department is to improve the Chareidi educational system – both boys’ and girls’ of all ages – so as, in the future, to integrate them in the workforce – and into society in general.
If we take the demographic statistics, then in 2040 (if I am not mistaken)… perhaps closer to 2050… if the current trend in the Chareidi community continues, they will be 50% of the Jewish population. 2040 is fast approaching… if we want the generation – fifty percent of the population – to integrate into society, the workforce, the army, security – in all areas – their education system must be dealt with yesterday. We realized this, and we got down to work at an extremely rapid pace. First of all, to see how we can improve the education system – its quality, the quality of pedagogy, teaching and learning. All this, in addition to the organization of the system within our department in the organizational, operational, and administrative sense, all in tandem with the community. There is no plan to change the community’s way of life.
We started the department overnight – it is still in the formative stage – with the help of – first of all – the inspectors – some are sitting here now – talented people – “agents of change.” There are people sitting here upon whose shoulders rest the responsibility for social change… the generation growing up now in the Chareidi community is your responsibility to assure that in twenty, perhaps ten, years there will be a better society here – much better.
I am from those who believe in ‘the carrot and the stick’ … a lot of carrot and a little stick… A lot of carrot: explain how much better life will be… You must also demand proper administration, transparency, real regulation, work norms, normal behavior… These things will be accomplished by direction on your part… some things are already changing… discrimination against students in the girls’ schools. How can it be that there is still discrimination? By the way, it is not just an issue of Ashkenazim and Sefardim… there are all different reasons within this sector. This, for example, is a red line for me… I would not give in to them on this; we shall not cooperate with discrimination. As much as it’s up to me, I shall not tolerate discrimination. I don’t have to go into details – I’m sure you are very on top of this.
It is still a difficult battle – it’s not simple – this battle is not won with force… It must be fought with seichel, with great caution, with care and sensitivity --- but with determination – never give up on the goal.
We have the manpower dept. – today there are eighty inspectors… by the end of 2016 there should be 120 inspectors in place… this is the strategic program of the Department… there are administrators, a curriculum, textbooks, resources, extra-curriculars, professional teacher development and training, and more and more and more… Obviously, it all goes step-by-step… you can’t change everything. If we want – there is demand for core curriculum subjects within the community – we have to respond to the demand, find the right person for it, start slowly to start with Hebrew, to start with math, and work your way up to English.
We have partners. This is dramatic – we have partners from within the community – and from without – who really want to accomplish this transformation. We just have to bring all these people together – people from all across the spectrum.
We also changed the inspection-system dramatically. I researched the existing system and found it to be ridiculous. Each inspector was responsible for 200-300 institutions! One inspector told me that he travels all over the country – he isn’t even reimbursed for all of his travelling expenses! I can say that we have completely revamped the system – helped along by funding from the Treasury Dept. – now most inspectors are responsible for about twenty-five schools in a specific geographic area. (Some still have more, but the numbers are going down – it takes time.) Each area will then have a supervisor over the inspectors, then a head supervisor for each municipality. All this will be under the supervision of the Department. Also, we are in touch with local government. The boards and committees of cities and towns are one of the most serious partners who work hand-in-hand with the Education Ministry.
The most important thing is to change our approach… We are witness to history in the making. We are seeing an historic breakthrough… I believe we’ll see the results in the next few years, if we stay the course. The job isn’t simple… its really complex… we need to draft a lot more people to help… not just money - people- from within this multi-cultured community.”
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