Education in Israel - Strikes

Strikes

Israeli schools and universities have been subject to repeated strikes over the years by faculty, and, occasionally, by students. The 2007 Israeli student strike started in April 2007 in protest at the government decision to increase tuition fees and the failure to implement the 2001 Winograd Committee recommendation that they be reduced by 25%. Students have clashed with police, blocked roads and been arrested.

After three weeks of strikes the presidents of the universities tried to break the strike with the threat that all students who failed to return to their studies on 8 May would have to retake the semester. The student leadership responded by intensifying the strike. On 7 May students prevented the reopening of the universities by sealing off university entrances with chains. Student leaders rejected a compromise proposal by the Israeli Prime Minister which would have exempted current students from the fee rises. Divisions amongst students have been reported in the Israeli media. Some students also started a hunger strike.

Negotiations between the Students and the Israeli government have failed to end the strike, despite reported breakthroughs.

The strike ended on May 14 after Student leaders narrowly agreed a compromise with the government which accepted the implementation of the controversial Shochat reforms. This agreement was unpopular with grassroots student activists. Middle and secondary school teachers were on strike for over a month and a half. Their demands include an 8.5% pay raise, reducing class sizes to a maximum of 30 students, and increasing the length of the school day.

The senior faculty of the universities were on strike between the opening of the 2007 autumn semester and mid-December 2007 after the Jewish holiday of Hannukah. The school year, for all the schools who struck, was extended until July 10, 2008.