Olmert vs. Sderot / As Qassams fall, Sderot kids don't want to go home

[Behind the Aegis]

The Sderot school system is in a weird situation. Many pupils are simply in Eilat. There has been a dispute in recent days between the municipality and the Education Ministry. Local government wanted to broadcast business as usual and not remove most of the children in the school system from town. The ministry proposed more far-reaching plans. The compromise was sending eleventh and twelfth graders on intensive study retreats so they could catch up to their nationwide peers. The rest of the grades would go on educational breaks outside the town.

But Arcadi Gaydamak came along and shuffled the deck. No one yesterday could estimate how many school children were in Eilat. The chair of the parents' committee guessed 2,000, town hall estimated 300, and the Education Ministry announced that 1,000 students were in Eilat with no educational framework. Sources said the ministry sent inspectors to try and arrange matters, to try and oversee the children and if possible, to bring them back to Sderot.

The rest of the school children, the ones left in town, didn't know exactly what to do. There are about 4,000 children in the town's school system, including 1,000 preschoolers. Hundreds of elementary school children were sent on field trips to Tel Aviv and Beit Govrin. Others decided to stay in school.

The preschoolers showed up as usual, but in middle school and high school, attendance was very low. Children reported being among the very few who came to school. So some of them just went to the daily bus to Eilat Gaydamak provided, and fought for seats. A., one of the mothers, said "All the kids are in Eilat, why shouldn't she go?" Attendance at religious schools was higher.


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