Some 8,000 ultra-Orthodox students to study in higher education institutions next year
A presentation by the council revealed that in the 2012-13 academic year, ten newly budgeted “Orthodox departments” were established in existing higher education institutions. Dr. Yofi Tirosh, a professor of labor law and discrimination, cautioned that there was a need to think about the face of Israeli society as it would be in a few years, prior to dealing with the question of accessibility to education for haredim. She argued that creating a gender division in academic studies to accommodate haredi norms would in turn reintroduce the separation between men and women in the Israeli economy.
Prof. Orna Kupferman, vice rector of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, also addressed the issue of gender separation. She discussed a program called “Emmisaries of the Public” at the Hebrew University, whose aim is to develop a tier of leaders from the haredi community and which is not separated by gender.
“The norms of exclusion of women permeate outside the haredi sector and into all of Israeli society. These norms contradict the worldview of the Hebrew University. Separation is creating an alarming reality whereby the university is not equal – we are throwing away resumés of excellent female professors, and are forced to accept instead average lecturers, simply because the women cannot teach men. In practice, many women in haredi society are leaders, but their prominence in education does not help them in everyday reality,” Kupferman said.
MK Ya’acov Asher (United Torah Judaism) said that efforts to force integration through regulation would not be successful. “The whole atmosphere that exists now, and the political exploitation [of haredim], does just the opposite. Excess regulation and insistence on things will result in ultimately missing the mark.
We should match the right platform to the haredi population – the institutions that will tailor to the haredi lifestyle will succeed,” he said. MK Uri Maklev (United Torah Judaism) responded to the criticism and defended the haredi community. “We are not always sure that the Council for Higher Education wants haredim. I have a feeling that the speakers in this room think we lack education, and [they] speak as though we are children, when in fact we are talking about people with high capabilities who have amazing educational tools – memorization and the ability to listen.
These people are also breadwinners, live frugally and learn – few people can do all these things together,” he said. MK Shimon Ohayon (Yisrael Beytenu) said that in four years, 25 percent of Israeli children would be haredi. He urged the committee not to “strive to establish more and more colleges,” but to strengthen the existing ultra-Orthodox higher education institutions. “To what extent has Israel prepared to integrate this sector into economic educational institutions? The answer unfortunately is painful,” Ohayon said. “The frameworks must have mentoring; we need to mobilize resources, so this sector will integrate into high-tech professions, technologies and, in addition, grant scholarships.”
At the end of the committee meeting, Trajtenberg asked for patience. “We have taken this discussion into account,” he said. “We are in a complex process to create something that did not exist. It is a difficult process of two worlds that have not met, but I think we are on the right track. We learn from every experience and from every haredi man or woman who enters the [educational] framework.”
Amram announced that the committee would convene for another meeting to discuss the issue at a later date.
Lidar Grave-Lazi