New Party Candidate Slams Education Minister Over PISA Scores

Netali Sham Tov, a candidate for the new Am Ech Israel party led by Ofer Vinter, sharply criticized Education Minister Yoav Kisch on Tuesday. Sham Tov accused Kisch of focusing on political rivalries rather than addressing the declining state of Israel's education system, particularly in light of the recently released PISA test results.

Sham Tov linked Kisch's concerns about her party potentially causing a "waste of votes" on the right to his apparent neglect of the PISA findings. "I heard Minister Yoav Kisch say he is very, very concerned, and I thought to myself: Oh, here is a minister finally taking responsibility for the situation and surely he will talk about the PISA test results that were published today and show that Israeli students are ranked among the lowest in the Western world," Sham Tov stated.

She contrasted this with Kisch's reaction to the formation of a new party on the right, suggesting he was more worried about political implications than educational outcomes. "But no, Yoav didn't like that a new party was established that aims to provide an alternative on the right, and even though it strengthens the camp, Yoav is concerned about a waste of votes, because it turns out he knows how to read data even worse than the students," she added.

Sham Tov directly addressed Kisch, urging him to focus on the needs of Israeli children before attempting to influence right-wing voters. "Yoav, before you educate the smart right-wing voters, take care of my children, and on October 27th, I hope you will succeed in identifying the ballot 'Am Ech Israel - led by Ofer Vinter'," she concluded, referencing the upcoming election date.

The criticism comes as PISA results revealed a significant drop in Israeli students' performance, with scores falling 38 points in reading, 25 in math, and 23 in science over three years. Minister Kisch attributed these results, in part, to the war's impact on the education system.