Former Prime Minister and former Education Minister Naftali Bennett said the government should dismantle the Education Ministry as the body that manages education in Israel, during the Re-education Conference on Monday.
“In recent years, the State of Israel has ranked first in gaps in educational outcomes, and this is a terrible thing,” he said. “We need to take radical and very feasible steps, one of which is to dismantle the Education Ministry in Israel.”
The former prime minister called for the closure of all of the ministry's oversight-related functions, including supervising and hierarchical decision-making. He proposed an alternative model in which the ministry would focus only on setting policy, and local authorities and schools would take care of the rest.
The conference, held at the Levinsky-Wingate Academic Center, focused on Israel’s education and its future challenges, including skills, teachers, and human capital.
President of the Levinsky-Wingate Academic Center, Professor Roni Lidor, emphasized the significance of the conference, which took place for the first time.
"The goal today is to create a diverse discussion on the education system's capabilities in facing future challenges. We are examining what skills we need to equip our students and teachers with at this time,” he said.
Humanity 'lost the monopoly on thinking'
Oved Yizhakiel, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Levinsky-Wingate Academic Center, highlighted the dire state of education in recent years, as well as the effects of technological trends.
"The revolution in artificial intelligence has changed the world. For the first time in history, humanity has lost the monopoly on thinking, and changes are happening at a very fast pace. But the Israeli education system is structured in such a way that it is almost impossible for it to keep up,” he said.
He called on decision-makers to take action for the sake of saving Israel’s education system.
“The change is essential for all of our futures. Education is the engine of repair. Education is the ministry of national infrastructure. Education is the future of human capital. Education is our healing, our recovery, our revival,” he concluded.
Bennett attributed the lack of change to the country’s current political environment, which he said is characterized by hate. He argued that Israel needs leadership that “doesn’t make each other hate one another” and doesn’t base its political strategy on that hate.
Last week, Education Minister Yoav Kisch announced the addition of financial literacy classes to middle school curricula, a mandatory adjustment for all schools nationwide.
Studies would include exposing students to critical financial literacy skills, understanding financial processes and concepts such as interest and inflation, and mastering everyday economic skills to help with daily life.
Ministries battle for funding
Meanwhile, additional funding is being allocated to school security, a move that requires other government ministries to reduce their budgets by 0.6% to transfer the funds to the National Security Ministry for schools.
Tourism Minister Haim Katz called continued cuts to ministries' budgets an "insult to the public," arguing that tourism in Israel is "experiencing the most severe crisis it has ever faced."