Shai Calderon, who heads the Education Ministry’s Chareidi District, issued a stern message to principals of chareidi girls’ high schools in Beit Shemesh, making it clear that refusal to admit students assigned to their institutions would result in the loss of state funding.
According to the directive, school leaders are obligated to take in the students allocated to them by Sunday, September 14, 2025, no later than 6:00 p.m.
Just days earlier, the Education Ministry took the unprecedented step of cutting off funding to a chareidi girls’ school in Yerushalayim after it rejected students placed there through the official enrollment system.
This decisive move underscores a dramatic shift in the Ministry’s approach toward schools that resist compliance with its placement directives, signaling a new era of strict enforcement.
Meanwhile, Degel Hatorah MK Moshe Gafni, speaking at a Beit Shemesh school opening last week, called on Shas to take action: “Open new educational institutions, as would be expected for a quality community, so your daughters have a place to study pleasantly and comfortably, without needing to crowd into our institutions.”
Shas issued a swift reply, declaring: “The Shas movement’s life mission is to establish top-tier educational institutions for the Sephardic public, and that is what it has done, with great success, for decades.”
The party added pointedly: “Kudos to Rabbi Moshe Gafni for emphasizing how important it is that the Shas movement remain strong and independent.”
{Matzav.com Israel}
