Tel-Chai Nation

Israel's new education minister's set out some requirements for Haredi schools:

Haredi educational institutions that will not include math, English and civics in their curriculums will not be eligible to receive government funding, Education Minister Shai Piron clarified during an interview with the Yedioth Ahronoth daily.

According to Piron, ultra-Orthodox schools must choose between two alternatives. "You want money from the State? Teaching the core subjects is the State's condition (for receiving these funds). If you don't go along (with the plan), I'm taking the money," he said in the interview, published Friday.

"While these are private institutions which cannot be told what to teach, there is no reason for me to fund them either," said the minister, who is a senior member of Yair Lapid's Yesh Atid party. "The State cannot fund something that goes against its interests."

Of course not, and Haredi institutions who claim that the government must fund them out of entitlement mindsets are not helping matters. So they'd do well to start setting up the learning programs for mathematics and science in their curriculum.

Labels: haredi corruption, Israel, Judaism