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Israeli Minister Steps in to Help Struggling Christian Schools

  • Veronica Neffinger

    Veronica Neffinger wrote her first poem at age seven and went on to study English in college, focusing on 18th century literature. When she is not listening to baseball games, enjoying the…

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  • Updated Jun 16, 2016

Israel’s Social Equality Minister has taken it upon herself to help Christian schools which are suffering from budget cuts.

Social Equality Minister Gila Gamliel has decided to allow 47 Christian schools to claim their formerly denied grant of 50 million Israeli New Sheqels, which compares to about 12.6 million U.S. dollars. 

According to ChristianToday.com, the schools’ 3,000 teachers went on strike last September due to budget cuts. The strike ended when the Education Ministry promised the grant to the schools, but later refused to transfer the money.

The conflict escalated to such an extent that Pope Francis got involved.

Gamliel says she hopes to prevent a repeat of last year when children missed the first days of school due to the strike. She also says she believes the schools deserve to have the money due to the education they provide for thousands of Christian students, as well as Muslims and those of other faiths.

ChristianToday.com reports that there are about 160,000 Christians in Israel and that Israel’s Christian schools have been educating Israelis for centuries, although they are not officially recognized by the government.

Publication date: June 16, 2016