By KTA News Team |
Supreme Court Justice Ofer Grosskopf expressed concern that the program designed for agricultural graduates from Asian and African countries serves as a fig leaf to the practice of employing them in physical agricultural work as part of their training.
The discussion happened during a hearing on a petition filed by a foreign employee’s NGO to close the program. The petition alleges that the program serves as a mechanism for supplying cheap labor to farmers under the guise of continuing education.
Grosskopf noted that graduate students work five days a week in physical agricultural work and only one day for theoretical studies. He also pointed out that although practical work is required, it is not clear how it adds value to their professionalism. The program has been operational since 1994 and has trained approximately 20,000 people. Apart from the lack of state oversight, the discussion also revealed that three students died, and 17 were recognized as victims of trafficking and slavery since the program’s inception.
