2.5 million Israeli students return to school after teachers' strike averted

Parents breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday evening as the Education and Finance ministries signed a last-minute agreement with the Teachers' Union allowing schools to open on time.

According to the agreement, teachers’ salaries will be raised by NIS 2,000 a month, while teachers will be required to work an extra hour a week - 25 instead of 24. Additionally, individual instruction time will be reduced by three hours.

The plan will be in effect for six years when it can be renegotiated.

The salary increases will take place over five years. In year one, teachers will receive an additional NIS 800. Then, in September 2024, salaries will go up by 600; in January 2025 and January 2026, another NIS 200 will be added.

Finally, another 2,000 teachers will be recruited to help fill a nationwide shortage.

The Education Ministry said that 2.5 million students would head to school on Friday and Sunday, among them 181,000 first graders. This includes more than 140,000 seniors.

In total, 5,560 schools are opening their doors this year, the ministry said. Some 231,000 educators staff them.

Finally, some 300,000 students will take part in special education programs.

Yearly strike threats

For the past several years, the Teachers’ Union has threatened the opening of the school year due to labor disagreements. This year, the chair of the Teachers’ Union accused Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of attempting to privatize the education system by offering individual contracts.

Parents and students protested outside the Education Ministry in Jerusalem, including two dozen people gluing their bodies to the floor of the building before police evacuated them. 

It will play itself out in five increase installments - the first being 800 NIS in September, 600 NIS in September 2024, 200 NIS in January 2025, and then 200 NIS for each of the next two years.