Court rules in favor of teachers: School year won’t be extended
middle and high schools have ended, and preschools and elementary schools will end their year on june 30, according to a court ruling on Friday. However, free “summer school” will begin for grades 1-4 on july 1.
the national Labor court rejected the education ministry’s demand to extend the school year by nine days.
the court ruled that there was no good reason to require teachers to alter their contracts and teach the extra days “only because of possible consequences that could be resolved in other ways.”
the ministry immediately responded to the court decision, saying it has been in touch with the teachers’ union and that summer school would start immediately on july 1 and run through august 1 for students in grades 1-4. teaching staff could work in the framework for additional pay.
“summer school will allow students to complete any gaps created due to the coronavirus,” education minister yoav Gallant said in a statement, noting that this alternative will also allow the economy to continue operating and help the country financially and socially.
“the local authorities as well as the Finance and education ministries will convene to complete an outline for the summer school program with a sense of responsibility and vision for the good of the child and their parents,” said chairman of the Federation of Local authorities Haim Bibas on Friday.
Bibas said the state would fully fund the program without cost to parents.
earlier in the day on Friday, the state sought to push off the court decision until saturday night, but the court said it had no
“based on false and unfounded accusations.”
“This is a completely unconstructive and political move that pushes us towards an unnecessary crisis of cooperation [between Tehran and IAEA],” the Iranian envoy said.
Russian Ambassador to the International Organizations in Vienna Mikhail Ulyanov tweeted: “The IAEA BG adopted resolution calling upon Iran to provide access to 2 locations specified by [the] Agency. Russia and China voted against. While stressing the need for Tehran and IAEA to settle this problem without delay, we believe that the resolution can be counter productive.”
Prior to the vote, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif had said the Islamic Republic could find “an agreeable” compromise with the IAEA on the issue if the board tabled the resolution.
However, it appeared that after Tehran has dragged its feet on one of the issues for four months and another issue for 12 months, that the IAEA Board of Governors has started to lose its patience.
Alternate Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benny Gantz on Friday lauded the IAEA resolution calling on the Islamic Republic to allow “immediate access to sites where suspected violations are taking place.”
“We’ve known for years that Iran is concealing blatant violations of the Non-Proliferation treaty,” the former IDF Chief of Staff tweeted.
Regarding the two nuclear facilities the IAEA wishes to visit and the unexplained nuclear material, The Jerusalem Post previously reported that virtually all of the evidence leading to the IAEA pressure on Iran for these issues relate to a January 2018 Mossad operation.