Summer break is already here, and as always at the end of the year, 11th and 12th grade students in high schools were tested in the matriculation exams in various subjects.
However, this matter got complicated as Ron Erez, the chairman of the teachers’ organization, ruled that as part of the organization’s sanctions, the teachers would refrain from giving the students their annual internal grades (the ‘Magen’ grades). This decision, of course, drew heated criticism, as the central victims in this story are the students, who worked hard during the year and are being denied the right to receive the grades that belong, at the end of the day, solely to them.
But matters had quickly escalated even further. The exams were all checked, and the grades were calculated and transferred, as every year, to the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Education then came out with a statement- they wouldn’t transfer grades to students whose annual grades (the Magen grades) have not been entered, due to the ministry’s policy of maintaining the purity of the exams. In other words, the Ministry of Education wanted to prevent a situation where after the matriculation grades were given, teachers would take advantage of knowing the grades to raise their students’ grades by giving higher annual grades. Under normal circumstances, this kind of situation is avoided because the teachers are obliged to provide the shield grades before the students are graded, and thus the grades remain fair (since the teachers are aware that if the students in the class receive an average significantly lower than the average of the annual shield grades – the shield grades will be disqualified).
Thus, there remains a situation where about half of the students, those whose teachers are subordinate to the teachers’ organization, did not receive their shield grades and likewise their matriculation grades.
Beyond the great moral problem in this situation, there is a practical problem, since this week the matriculation second exams are held. Students who have not received their grades, of course, do not know whether to take the second exams.
Yesterday (Wednesday) the Minister of Education, Yoav Kish, stated that the matriculation grades in mathematics will be published to students who did not receive them (this is because the High Court hearing that the Ministry of Education withdrew from was supposed to deal only with the math grades. It seems that the matriculation grades in English are also expected to be revealed, but these, to some extent , are already less relevant – since the sophomore year in English has already passed.) Therefore, the students are expected to receive, after a long time and much anticipation, their matriculation grades.
Good luck!