The Knesset's Constitution Committee approved the order that will allow the transfer of information from the IDF to the educational institutions regarding students serving in the reserves, with the aim of preparing for the start of the school year and bringing the rights of the serving students to full use.
The government responded to the request of the chairman of the committee, MK Simcha Rothman, to also add information about students whose spouses serve in the reserves, for the purpose of providing benefits to the spouses as well.
According to the information reported to the committee, it is estimated that around 70,000 reservists are students, who are currently unable to start the school year.
As a reminder, today it was announced that the heads of higher education institutions refuse to postpone once again the opening of the school year, which is now set for December 31st, despite the severe damage to the public serving in the reserves.
"The serving students expect us to make the adjustments"
In the discussion, Brigadier General Benny Ben Ari, a chief reserve officer, said: "We are in an unusual period. On the 7th of October we recruited at once about 300,000 reservists who left everything and came to defend the State of Israel, in operational activity while risking their lives, paying a significant and sometimes unbearable personal price. The message they send us all the time is "we are here as much as necessary. Do the work and take care of the home front and take care of us so that we can return to life after the war." One of the things that disturbs the reserve officers the most is the opening of this year. Today, most of the combat officers are students, more than 50%, which is dramatic for us and for the academic institutions."
Brigadier General Ben Ari added: "The serving students expect us to make the adjustments so that they are not harmed because they left everything to defend the country."
One of the representatives of the academy, Prof. Oded Rabinovitch, senior assistant to the president of the Technion, expressed their position: "The main and only purpose for which we need the information is to enable us to help the reservists in the best possible way. We must know who they are, how long they served and know about their service in real time in order to make academic and financial adjustments and make many decisions from the management level to the lecturer in the course. If my course as a lecturer will have 5 reservists, I will have to give a certain answer that will be different than if there will be 50 reservists."
"The resources are also a force that must be properly managed, attention of the envelope to the students as well as the issue of the dormitories, we will have to make sure that the resources are used correctly. The area of the opening of the new year is the most challenging for decision making which is currently in a record level of uncertainty and therefore the information is acute. Regarding the question of the sensitivity of the information - even if at the end a student serving in the reserves receives a call from us and does not need anything, we have done well. It is important that we stay in touch with the students as much as possible because there will be many who will need our help."