Israeli Students Will Talk About Gaza War at Start of School Year
Image by Getty Images
The first two weeks of the Israeli school year will include discussion of Israel’s operation in Gaza, the education ministry announced.
The ministry on Monday issued a syllabus to teachers which calls on them to allow students to talk about their personal experiences and to work on special projects in which they express their feelings about the month-long operation, dubbed Protective Edge.
School starts in Israel on Sept. 1.
Teachers also are asked to hold discussions about freedom of speech in a democratic society and how to hold an open dialogue.
Schools also are expected to hold cultural events and talent shows in an effort to help students relax following a summer of running to bomb shelters and hearing news of rocket attacks.
“We dedicate the first week of school as well as the school year to addressing the scourge of racism and talking with students about the aspects of tolerance, acceptance of others and the eradication of racism in society,” Education Minister Shai Piron said in a statement on the Ministry’s website.
Meanwhile, the Home Front Command is considering changing school bus routes in southern Israel to make sure the students have a protected place to disembark in the event of a rocket attack, according to reports.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
