Schools to Accept Ethiopian Students

Three private religious schools in Petach Tikvah will admit Ethiopian students. The agreement was reached hours before the start of the school year by the Education Ministry.

On Sunday, the Education Ministry had announced that it would cut off funding to the private religious schools — up to 75 percent of their annual budgets — if they refused to accept the students. The schools had claimed that the Ethiopian students require more time and funds than other children to raise them to academic standards.

The schools had agreed to accept children into regular first-grade classes but said the older students must attend special classes, which Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar called “a kind of small ghetto for pupils of a certain origin.”