Mayor asks for draft delay for 12th-graders

Herzliya Mayor Yael German wants the draft delay so that the end-of-year matriculation examinations can be spaced out over a longer period.

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
Herzliya Mayor Yael German has asked Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Education Minister Yuli Tamir to delay the military call-up date for Israel's high school graduates this year so that the end-of-year matriculation examinations can be spaced out over a longer period, reports www.local.co.il. German said the two-month teachers' strike at the beginning of the school year had effectively delayed the start of the school year to December and had resulted in a difficult year and a crowded examination schedule for 12th-graders. According to the report, German said Israel's 100,000 12th-graders were under "tremendous pressure" because of the effective shortening of the school year. She said most 12th-graders would have to sit seven or eight examinations in a crowded timeframe at the end of the school year, with many exams being held day after day. She said delaying the call-up date by even a few days would enable the examination schedule to be spread out to a more reasonable timeframe. "I am placing before you the request of the students and of ourselves to delay the call-up date for 12th-grade students and to enable them to do their matriculation examinations at reasonable intervals," German wrote to the ministers. No response was reported.