Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with chairmen of student unions from higher education institutions across the country on Tuesday morning, as part of National Students Week.
The meeting, held in Netanyahu’s office, included Uri Reshtik, chairman of the National Union of Israeli Students, Education Minister Shai Piron, Deputy Minister Ofir Akunis and executive director of the Prime Minister’s Office, Harel Locker.
“Israeli students take responsibility for the society in which they live; therefore, they request that the government build the appropriate infrastructure to allow students to be productive citizens who contribute to society and thus significantly influence making ours a more just society,” Reshtik said.
“This infrastructure includes investing in higher education, inter alia, by making it more accessible to residents of the periphery and helping immigrant, minority and economically disadvantaged students,” he continued.
“Such an investment is pure profit for the Israeli economy, which will benefit from the integration of more academics in the labor force.”
Reshtik stressed that despite the commitment of the previous and current governments to allocate NIS 7 billion to higher education, some students’ needs must still be addressed, such as the high costs of housing and living.
“There are needs that must be dealt with, but there are also great changes. We stopped very negative trends in education in general and in higher education in particular, and we have begun to turn them around,” Netanyahu said.
“We must improve the education that we provide, from preschool to higher education and beyond, and make it more efficient,” he added.
Piron expressed his recognition for “the contribution of students to the development of the State of Israel and Israeli society” and stressed that higher education is “the main key to integrating into society.”
Piron added that he intends to promote access to higher education for all sectors, as part of an overall initiative for equal opportunity in education.
The Knesset also marked National Students’ Week with discussions on various topics in higher education such as women in academia and students in the job market, on Tuesday.