The education minister: Israel's investment per pupil is much lower than the OECD average. We must invest more in education.
Minister of Education Gideon Saar told the Knesset Finance Committee today that the ministry's budget performance was very high in 2009 and that he hoped for a similar performance in 2010. The ministry spent NIS 30.2 billion in 2009, and left just NIS 45 million unused. Saar said, "We're talking about 99% performance, a percentage that the Education Ministry never before achieved."
Saar said that the Education Ministry's budget should be increased. "Our national priorities should change. There is no dispute that investment in education is the key to Israel's future. According to international reports, Israel's investment per pupil is much lower than the OECD average. We must invest more in education.
"It's important to say that we don’t get what we need for Israel's future. I cannot rest over this, and I promise that others won't rest either. It's easy to say that education is the top national priority, but when deciding the 2011 budget, it's either defense or education. Either continue to inflate the defense budget or increase the education budget, because even if the entire national budget went to defense, the Ministry of Defense would still ask for more. There's no argument that education is no less important than defense."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 25, 2010
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