Secondary schools to be closed in Jerusalem; Student leaders talk with PMO.
By HAVIV RETTIG GURjp.services1(photo credit: )
Public universities and colleges will remain closed on Sunday, and probably for the remainder of the coming week, as the student strike protesting the expected recommendations of the Shochat Committee to raise tuition continues into its third week.
Junior high and high schools in Jerusalem will also be closed on Sunday as the high school teachers' strike continues. Everywhere else in the country, schools will be open and studies will resume.
The Secondary School Teachers Organization has been declaring alternating strikes in protest of "stalled" negotiations of wage agreements and employment conditions with the Education and Finance ministries. On Friday, high schools in the North and South of the country were shut down.
Meanwhile, after two weeks of strikes that have shut down universities and colleges throughout the country, student unions leaders reported that they had met with a representative of the Prime Minister's Office over the weekend.
While reports of the meeting, between heads of the National Student Organization (NSO) and the National Union of Israeli Students (NUIS) and the prime minister's economic adviser Prof. Manuel Trachtenberg, came from both student organizations, the Prime Minister's Office denied the meeting had taken place. No external verification was possible by press time.
The student unions have said they would not end their strikes until the prime minister took part in the negotiations.
