Zionism has always been imbued with a pioneering spirit and about achieving the improbable with perseverance and out-of-the-box thinking.
Theodore Herzl’s famous quote “If you will it, it is no dream,” laid the groundwork for the “Start-Up Nation,” which stormed the world with invention and innovation.
In 2024, these achievements are being challenged by our under-achievement in Israel’s education system.
According to a report from 2021, some 50% of Israeli children from the country’s fastest-growing sectors are receiving a third-world education that will not be able to support a first-world economy.
This was before the full effects of the COVID-19 pandemic were accentuated and a devastating war that has now lasted nine months instigated by the Hamas pogrom on October 7th.
While it is vital Israel focuses on issues like security and defense, against existential threats from multiple directions, we can not afford to neglect education, because if we do not address the urgent needs of our children in the education system, we face a challenging future.
Our enemies tore apart lives, families, communities, and the nation as a whole, which is still suffering from post-trauma.
Above all, war disrupts the lives of our children profoundly, mentally, socially, and educationally.
Israeli children have faced displacement and disruption
In 2024, some displaced Israeli high school students have left school without receiving their final certificates, uncertain about their grades, and unsure whether to proceed to the next term or not.
The possibility of increasing dropout potential at this time is the decrease by tens of percent in student attendance in schools. According to recent studies, troublingly low attendance levels are observed among middle school children in the North of Israel who come to school regularly, with only 63% arriving consistently, 27% frequently, 9% occasionally, and 1% of students do not attend educational settings at all.
This reality primarily characterizes communities on the front lines or alternative educational frameworks provided by the state for families displaced from their homes. The danger is that post-war, these students may struggle to return to regular study routines and find themselves completely outside of frameworks.
Special education students face even greater difficulties, dealing with the dual trauma of displacement due to war and the significant impact and disruption of their routine, which includes summer vacations and changes of school.
IN MANY parts of Israel, there is a distinct possibility that high schools may not commence on time next year, and if they do, families might receive last-minute notifications, which leads to the worst possible start to the academic year.
To meet these challenges that impact our national future, we need to return to the Herzlian spirit.
It is crucial to urgently devise innovative and practical solutions – both temporary and permanent – to ensure that students can resume their education promptly and smoothly, reestablish routines, and regain the necessary educational and social support.
For this we need the full attention and focus of both government and civil society.
After October 7th, government and civil society came up with solutions to many of the urgent issues facing our nation, whether ensuring our soldiers had the necessary equipment to enter battle, family members of those killed and kidnapped were looked after, and special dispensations and benefits would be given to those who have given up their life, family and job to defend our nation for the last nine months.
We must now gather that spirit to find solutions for our children who deserve an education. Their future and our country’s future as a whole literally depend on it.
It is clear that the children of those internally displaced who were evacuated last October from the northern border region need answers now. They can not be placed in no-man’s land educationally.
Solutions must be found for Northern border children
One potential solution could be to adapt the mechanism used for children returning home from southern Israel, possibly utilizing Dead Sea hotels and schools for northern border children.
A significant challenge lies in the fact that while rural communities were evacuated together as a unit to specific locations, cities were evacuated to various places. For instance, children from Kiryat Shmona currently attend approximately 100 different schools across Israel, which undermines their sense of communal support and frameworks.
THE PRIMARY objective is to ensure that all children have the opportunity to attend school in as strong a mental state and social place as possible when the next academic year begins. Failing to provide needed educational support risks losing these children to withdrawing and a fractured education. They are still reeling from under-achievement, pandemic, war, and uncertainty.
Education must be returned to the center of our national agenda, because it has been left to stagnate for too long. It must receive priority attention.
Furthermore, we must prioritize our children’s benefit and well-being above all else. We must place the child in the center of any plans and considerations, outweighing any financial or political considerations.
However long this war takes, we will recover as a people and as a nation, physically and hopefully emotionally. There will be many challenges, but just as in the aftermath of previous wars of intifadas, Israeli resilience will win out.
However, the long-term effects on a lost generation of children who have large gaps in their education will be colossal and could affect our status as the Start-Up Nation and a first-world economy.
This could give our enemies a posthumous victory.
We must not let that happen, and just as victory on the battlefield is the solution to our military and security challenges, providing a high standard of education for all Israeli children is a victory that will be lasting and sustainable.
The writer is chairman of the Center for Jewish Impact, Alumot Or and SASA Setton, and former CEO and chairman of the board of World ORT, as well as former CEO of the World Jewish Congress.