Yeshivas flunk in secular ed: group

THE AVERAGE Hasidic elementary school student gets just 90 minutes a day of English, reading and writing instruction, in violation of state law, a report by advocates for secular education says.

“When yeshivas do provide education in secular subjects, it is in just a few grades, for one hour to 90 minutes at the end of the long school day,” says the report by Yaffed, a progressive Jewish group.

In July 2015, the city Department of Education launched a probe into Yaffed’s accusations that ultra-Orthodox Jewish schools fail to provide basic secular classes. The probe has dragged on for more than two years.

Yaffed held a press conference Wednesday at City Hall and slammed the de Blasio administration.

“The investigation is ongoing and we are treating this matter with utmost seriousness,” said Education Department spokeswoman Toya Holness. Meanwhile, thousands of students are illegally being deprived of an education, the advocates say.

“The ‘English’ period is often treated as free time for restless students,” the Yaffed report says. “Textbooks are heavily censored, when they are used at all.”