Education Minister Yoav Kisch and Samaria Regional Council head Yossi Dagan inaugurated the new permanent building of the state-religious elementary school Bnei Zev in the Samaria community of Alon Moreh? no, in the settlement of Ali Zehav, in the morning on Sunday. The school was built with an investment of 27 million shekels and includes 24 classrooms, innovative learning spaces and a sports field. It is intended to serve the area’s growth and is expected to accommodate about 500 students in the coming years.
The building is part of the Samaria Regional Council’s five-year education plan, under which about 50 million shekels are being invested in upgrading and developing the local education system over five years. The ceremony was attended by school principal Yitzhak Rapaport, community council head Yishai Alush, the settlement rabbi Rabbi Gad Makhta, district supervisor Orly Batito, school supervisor Rabbi David Saadia, council CEO Haim Margolis, education department head Tal Navoni, as well as educators, students, parents and local residents.
According to council data, the number of schools in Samaria has grown by more than 50% over the past decade, from 21 institutions to 32 today. Eleven new schools were built in that period, including six elementary schools and five post-elementary institutions. In the last two years, the regional education system has also seen a 5% increase in student numbers.
Kisch said the inauguration was “much more than opening an educational institution,” calling it “another expression of the growth and strengthening of settlement in Judea and Samaria” and of the government’s commitment to build and invest in the next generation. He noted that the ministry recently reopened educational institutions in Sha-Nur and Homesh. Dagan said, “Anyone who wants to see the future of the State of Israel should look at the children of Samaria,” adding that the area’s growth requires a continued “educational revolution.”
