"Teaching Across School Streams" on Israeli Radio - MERCHAVIM, the Institute for the Advancement of Shared Citizenship in Israel

The following is the translated transcript of an item about integration of Arab-Israeli teachers in Jewish-Israeli schools which was aired January 1st, 2008 on Israeli radio's Reshet Bet: "This Morning" - the main morning news program.

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So, Yossi [Hadar - Education correspondent], you're reporting that Minister of Education Yuli Tamir is promoting a plan to integrate Arab teachers in Jewish schools. There's actually a surplus of thousands of teachers in the Israeli-Arab sector - people who are university graduates - and can't find work?
Absolutely. We're talking about some 10,000 teachers and we are the first station to report about this plan. The educational system in the Israeli-Arab sector is rife with problems - lack of resources, lack of teaching hours, and lack of achievements. Even though the Ministry of Education has implemented a uniform method of placing teachers, harsh accusations are still voiced in the Israeli-Arab sector regarding inappropriate teacher placement as a result of familial or political affiliations - accusations which reflect a surplus of some 10,000 unemployed teachers, as mentioned, with which the sector is afflicted.

According to a report by the Knesset Information and Research Center, even though all relevant authorities have known about the great surplus in the Israeli-Arab sector for many years now, the issue has almost never been discussed in official reports. MERCHAVIM, the Institute for the Advancement of Shared Citizenship in Israel, has begun advancing a unique initiative to address the issue, in which Arab-Israeli teachers who are not employed in the sector will be integrated in Jewish-Israeli schools.

Minister of Education Yuli Tamir supports the idea: "The Ministry of Education has begun integrating Arab Arabic language teachers in Hebrew-speaking schools last year. By this year we had some 100 teachers. The number is already increasing. It will increase next year as well and I definitely also think that this idea, which was presented by MERCHAVIM Institute today, is a right one. It will not solve the general problem of Arab teachers who are looking for work, as we're talking about some 7,000 or 8,000 teachers, but there is definitely an educational message here and a benefit for the educational system, which is searching for good Arabic teachers."

Yes. We should mention that MERCHAVIM Institute estimates that this method can be used to integrate 1,000 Arab-Israeli teachers in Jewish schools, in all subjects. Additional solutions to the issue raised in yesterday's Knesset Education Committee meeting included adding extra hours and classes to the sector, early retirement for exhausted teachers and even reducing the number of Arab students in teacher's colleges. Committee chair MK Michael Melchior aggregated his support to the integration of college-educated Arab-Israeli teachers in Jewish schools - as well as in other sectors of the Israeli economy.

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