'Science, technology panel should expand responsibility'

Rivlin says responsibility for preparing laws regarding higher education should be transferred from Education Committee to Science and Technology Committee.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Rivlin 311 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Rivlin 311
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Responsibility for preparing laws regarding higher education should be transferred from the Education Committee to the Science and Technology Committee, Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin said on Wednesday.
He spoke at a ceremony in which Science Committee Chairman MK Meir Sheetrit handed the chairmanship over to fellow Kadima MK Ronit Tirosh as part of a rotation agreement.
Rivlin said at the Knesset ceremony that he would be happy to help Tirosh, a former director-general of the Education Ministry, with whatever she needed. Sheetrit agreed that the authority and topics of the committee should be expanded.
When he was chairman, he said, he led efforts to legislate on very complicated issues, such as biometric identification and electronic “handcuffs.”
Tirosh said that the public protests have drawn attention to social and economic issues from the usual agenda of security issues. This is an opportunity to deal with technological issues that affect everyone, she said.
Kadima chairman MK Tzipi Livni suggested that Tirosh deal with matters of technological education, and immigrant scientists.
Immediately after the ceremony, Tirosh sat with the committee’s professional staff and said that after studying the committee’s fields of activity, she would prepare a strategic plan that she would present when the Knesset recess ends.