Education Minister Yoav Kisch and Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan inaugurated the new permanent building of the elementary state religious school in Eli Zahav in Samaria on Sunday morning. The school cost NIS 27 million to build and includes 24 classrooms, innovative learning spaces and a sports field.
Officials said the school is expected to keep growing and will serve about 500 pupils in the coming years. Its construction is part of a five-year education plan led by Dagan, under which the Samaria council is investing NIS 50 million in upgrading and developing education, in response to rapid population growth in the area.
The ceremony was attended by school principal Yitzhak Rapaport, Eli Zahav local committee chair Yishi Alush, Rabbi Gad Macheta, district supervisor at the Education Ministry Orly Batito, schools supervisor Rabbi David Sadia, council CEO Haim Margolis, education division director Tal Nevooni, other education staff, students, parents and local residents.
Council data show that over the past decade the number of schools in Samaria rose by more than 50 percent, from 21 to 32 active institutions. That growth included 11 new schools, six elementary and five secondary. The number of students in the local education system has also increased by 5 percent in the past two years. Kisch said the new school is more than an educational opening, calling it a sign of the settlement's growth and of state investment in the future. He said the ministry had recently reopened schools in Sha-Nur and Homesh. Dagan said the region's demographic growth and construction require a continued education revolution, adding, "The children of today are the leaders of tomorrow."
