Education in crisis: Strikes, war, and the toll on Israeli children - editorial

School is back in session in Israel, much to the relief of parents all over the country. However, with the return of classes comes the return of other ongoing issues and debates surrounding education in the country, and the situation seems worse than ever.

On August 31, just a day before the school year was to begin, Israeli teachers announced that they would be going on strike, preventing high schools from starting on time. At the time of writing, that strike is still ongoing a week later.

This happens all the time, and it’s not without reason. The teachers have their usual gripes about low salaries and unsatisfactory contracts.

But the strikes are only the tip of the iceberg this year.

The Israel-Hamas War is still in full force, and both teachers and parents are feeling it. Teachers are overworked and underpaid, and have to cope with the reality of teaching during an ongoing conflict. Class sizes in many parts of the country have grown due to families being relocated and staffing issues. The agreed-upon salary increases and additional benefits for the previous school year also never came due to the October 7 massacre and ongoing war – a conflict that has seen the Education Ministry budget cut by NIS 38 million.

Meanwhile, parents throughout the country are also struggling. Many families have been torn apart by the war, with some parents becoming de facto single parents, still working while the other one is caught up in IDF reservist duty. Some of them have suffered even more, having lost partners, friends, or family members either to terrorism or on the battlefield.

Situation in Jerusalem is particularly bad

In Jerusalem, the situation is even worse for parents of younger children due to the need for after-school chaperones (tzaharonim).

In public schools in Jerusalem, although younger children technically finish school at 2 p.m., they remain in school for longer, not under the supervision of a teacher or daycare worker, but with a chaperone, who is in charge of watching and feeding them.

But the chaperones for many non-haredi (ultra-Orthodox) schools in the city all went on strike – first not showing up for work without notice, and then formally declaring a strike later on.

The strikes cut school days shorter and force many parents to have to leave work early. In many cases, this can put their jobs at risk.

But it isn’t just the parents and teachers who need our support now – it’s also the students.

These children, especially those now in high school, have been robbed by twists of fate of a normal high school experience. First COVID, then war. Numerous strikes, while for good reason, certainly haven’t helped matters. But now, many children are stuck far away from their homes due to the war, or are constantly worried about a parent in the reserves – or even worse, may have already lost friends and family and are dealing with untold amounts of trauma.

Earlier this year, the Israel Pediatric Association issued a report claiming that 84% of Israeli children were suffering emotional distress due to the war.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) cases have been rising since the war began, and as we have already seen, the state is not capable of providing adequate mental health support as is. But the situation will be made much worse if children’s education suffers, denying them even that level of support and stability.

These periods are crucial for childhood development, to help shape children into the adults who will be the future of Israeli society. The state is quite frankly not doing enough to take care of its children, and that is something that needs to change.

But we know the country is certainly capable of it. The only educational sector that hasn’t been harmed by the war – and in fact has constantly been getting all the support it needs – is the ultra-Orthodox.

That’s not to say the government is wrong for supporting haredi schools, but that it’s wrong to not give the rest of the country that same grace. Education is something everyone should be entitled to, but it is being denied to the nearly 514,000 Israeli high schoolers as the strikes and lack of support continue.

The government needs to give education the support it deserves. Israel has already lost a generation to this war – those who are fighting it. It can’t afford for the next generation to become yet another casualty.