- A 2007 UNESCO/Save the Children UK report titled, "Fragmented
foundations: education and chronic crisis in the Occupied Palestinian Territory"
addressed issues "in emergency and reconstruction situations, as well
as in chronic conflict." It explained that in 1994, the Palestinian
Authority established the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE)
with formal responsibility for the system, including planning, budgeting
and coordination throughout the Territories.
-
- Through at least 2007, it administered about three fourths
of OPT schools, handled two-thirds of its students, and, as able, requires
10 years of basic education, two additional non-compulsory ones, then higher
education for those qualified. See below.
-
- UNWRA runs 13% of schools for 24% of the students, the
private sector another 11% of schools and 6% of students as of 2006, according
to World Bank figures. Israel maintains authority in East Jerusalem although
MoEHE supports a number of its schools.
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- In the 1990s, school enrollment increased substantially.
A priority was placed on new construction and rehabilitation, and efforts
toward greater inclusiveness was stressed, especially for girls and children
with disabilities. Technical, vocational, and early childhood education
were also addressed, as well as a curriculum reflecting Palestinian history
and heritage, culminating the the final year Tawjihi (university entrance)
exam that assesses student readiness for higher education as well as their
qualifications in certain fields.
-
- An education system depends, of course on the quality
and number of good teachers, the report saying that under the PA, "teacher
training has been relatively piecemeal, with no concrete standards or coordination
mechanisms for higher education institutions engaged in teacher training."
A number of teacher strikes earlier also took its toll.
-
- The second Intifada especially impacted education, the
result of Israel's harsh response and its human and structural toll. Earlier
momentum was lost. As a result, educational access and quality suffered,
and the more repressive Israel becomes, the more adaptive MoEHE had to
be to function under conditions of chronic instability, conflict and crisis.
-
- Throughout decades of occupation and dispossession, education
has been a bedrock of survival, for youths and the nation. Yet as long
as occupation continues in a conflict-plagued environment, normal OPT functions
will be severely impeded, including for education. The report drew conclusions
but no solutions or condemnation of Israeli practices.
-
- Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) on Palestinian
Education
-
- IMEU asked "What kind of education do Palestinian
children receive," then gave a capsule account of its state, explaining
that students at all levels comprise over one-third of the OPT population.
In addition:
-
- -- among the 15 - 24 year olds, literacy is 98.2%, and
overall adult literacy is 91.1% - both figures much higher than in America,
the National Right to Read Foundation reporting in September 2007 that:
-
- -- 42 million American adults can't read at all;
-
- -- 50 million read at a fourth or fifth grade level;
-
- -- each year, over two million adults swell the illiteracy
ranks; and
-
- -- 20% of high school seniors are functionally illiterate
at graduation.
-
- In addition, America ranks low in math and computer skills,
and given an agenda to privatize public education, these numbers will grow
because millions of kids won't be educated - what the Bush administration
called reform and Obama's "Race to the Top" will continue.
-
- Education Under Occupation
-
- OPT schools face numerous obstacles under occupation.
Israel ordered many West Bank ones closed, while checkpoints, free movement
restrictions, curfews, and other civil liberty violations impede access
to classes as well as a conducive learning environment in them.
-
- Since September 2000 (the onset of the second Intifada),
hundreds of students and dozens of teachers were killed, many more injured,
and over 2,500 others arrested. In addition, Israeli shelling destroyed
hundreds of schools and damaged dozens more. More on that below.
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- Gaza Under Siege
-
- Over half the population is under age 18. Pre-Operation
Cast Lead, over 640 schools operated - 383 government ones, 221 by UNRWA,
and 36 private schools for a student population of over 440,000. Under
siege, however, university and post-graduate students are impeded from
studying abroad, some having to forgo scholarship grants as a result. From
July - September 2008, 70 students got exit permission through Egypt, while
hundreds of others were denied, the result of Israel's diplomatic escort
requirement most can't get and some who do are still rebuffed.
-
- Each year, over 1,000 Gazan students apply abroad to
study, yet no official body or channel handles their requests or ability
to exit so most of them can't go even if accepted.
-
- Gaza overcrowding was a problem pre-conflict, forcing
most government and UNWRA schools to use a shift system for the growing
student population. Under siege and post-conflict, construction of new
schools is impossible and repairing damaged ones challenging at best with
basic materials unavailable or allowed in only in token amounts.
-
- In April 2010, "confidential information" supplied
by international groups listed items Israel permits. Among less than seven
dozen are wheat, cooking oil, dates, chickpeas, rice, beans, lentils, some
fruit, frozen vegetables, canned meat, frozen meat and fish, cinnamon,
soap, detergent, toothpaste, toothbrushes, coffee and tea, combs, and potatoes.
-
- All of these are in restricted amounts that can be changed
or cut off arbitrarily any time for any reason or none at all.
-
- Prohibited items include common ones like jam, vinegar,
chocolate, fruit preserves, dried fruit, sage, fabric for clothing, fresh
meat, writing implements, notebooks, heaters and newspapers.
-
- Pre-siege, thousands of items were permitted (including
essential construction materials), and Gazans could export produce and
other goods. No longer with rare exceptions under a siege nearing its third
anniversary, one so strict that it's strangling 1.5 million people, causing
widespread malnutrition, serious illnesses and premature deaths - slow
motion genocide affecting the entire Territory, and to a lesser degree
the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
-
- IMEU reported that in north Gaza, 9,000 students from
15 damaged schools were accommodated in 73 others, 4,000 in two schools
alone. Also, 1,200 secondary school students in north Gaza government schools
got no accommodation during the 2009-10 school year.
-
- In government schools overall, attendance and performance
suffered because of aging, destroyed and damaged infrastructure, overcrowding,
and frequent military attacks. Even in the 2007-08 first semester, only
20% of 16,000 sixth graders were able to pass standardized exams in math,
English, Arabic, and science because of hardships placed on study.
-
- As a result of Operation Cast Lead, hundreds of schools
and kindergartens were damaged, and another 18 destroyed (eight government,
two private, and eight kindergartens). Six are in north Gaza, affecting
9,000 students, forced to relocate elsewhere if able.
-
- In addition, six university buildings were destroyed
and 16 damaged. According to the Education Ministry, 98 students were killed
in north Gaza, another 454 injured and five teachers. For UNRWA schools,
86 children and three teachers were killed, another 402 students and 14
teachers injured. As a result, the entire Strip is traumatized, especially
children. Those who lost family members need psycho-social support under
very trying conditions, especially for the numbers in need.
-
- Various other problems are endemic from basic nutrition,
clean water, sanitation, medical care, shelter, essential goods and services,
and the urgency to end the crushing siege and regular Israeli attacks,
targeted killings, occasional incursions, and an occupation designed to
inflict pain and suffering, besides its harm tp education.
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- Education in East Jerusalem
-
- A September 2009 Association for Civil Rights in Israel
(ACRI) report titled, "The Arab-Palestinian School System in East
Jerusalem As the 2009-10 School Year Begins" highlights the plight
of Palestinian children because Israel denies them free public education
under administered system, although it's required under the Compulsory
Education Law and a High Court of Justice (HCJ) ruling to provide it (in
The Community Administration for the Development of Beit Hanina et al v.
Jerusalem Municipality and Ministry of Education).
-
- Even so, thousands of East Jerusalem's 95,000 school-age
children can only partially register for regular schooling. Many others
are entirely denied. As a result, in 2008, less than half the youth population
attended municipal public schools. If able, parents send them to private
or unofficial ones operated by private firms, churches, the Islamic Authority
(Waqf), UN, or other Palestinian organizations.
-
- Given widespread poverty, tuition is a problem, so thousands
lose out altogether. Others able to enter public schools are forced into
"unsuitable structures" that are small, overcrowded, unventilated,
and lack support classes or playgrounds.
-
- In fact, over half of East Jerusalem classrooms are sub-standard,
over 200 of the nearly 1,400 total classified "unsuitable" by
city authorities.
-
- A core problem is overcrowding because of a shortage
of public classrooms - for the 2007-08 school year estimated at around
1,000 from pre-school through secondary and special ed. By 2011, an estimated
1,500 shortfall is forecast.
-
- Nonetheless, the HCJ ruled that the Education Ministry
and Jerusalem municipality are obligated to construct schools for Palestinians
as well as Jews. Yet despite repeated promises, they're not built, and
no authority compels it. As a result, each year, public schools deny large
numbers of children access for lack of space, a problem continuing to grow.
-
- The Jerusalem municipality says it's because of a land
shortage even though property mapping given the Court showed otherwise
with many vacant spaces for construction, enough for hundreds of classrooms.
-
- An earlier 2002 Master Plan for Arab Education lists
many lots suitable for school construction. It's no different today.
-
- In recent months, some softening will allow 60 classrooms
to be built on five lots, and appropriation procedures began for 90 more
on another five. In total, up to 650 classrooms may be built on 25 lots
if the Ministry of Education approves a proposed appropriation. Even this
falls far short, however, of growing needs for at least 1,500 new classrooms
by 2011 as explained above.
-
- So given current shortfalls and new proposals, little
more than one-fourth of needed classrooms will be available in the new
year. Once again, government schools will deny most Palestinian children
for lack of space. Jews, of course, come first, and authorities make it
hard administratively for Palestinian parents in all respects. As a result,
children go on waiting lists and remain there, besides, at times, being
charged service fees, an unauthorized practice of up to hundreds shekels,
unaffordable for most parents.
-
- ACRI calls the situation "a severe violation of
(the) fundamental rights (of children) to development and self-realization.
Clearly the result will be irreversible damage to the(ir) ability to develop
as they grow older. It is imperative to end the ongoing travesty"
and injustice. "It is unconscionable that education reforms in other
parts of Israel should preempt the most basic obligation - the provision
of free public education in East Jerusalem" and throughout the Territories.
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- Preventing Gazan Students from Studying Abroad
-
- A November 2009 Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR)
report titled, "An Education Denied: Report on the Impact of the Closure
of Border Crossings on Students from the Gaza Strip Studying Abroad,"
explained that Israel's illegal siege denies a fundamental right and the
futures of many thousands of students.
-
- As a result, hundreds have sacrificed dreams for limited
home opportunities, in Gaza alone as third level study in the West Bank
is also denied by travel restrictions.
-
- Before the second Intifada, Palestinian students could
travel abroad through Gaza's Rafah International Crossing, Ben-Gurion Airport,
Gaza's International Airport when it operated, and the West Bank's al-Karama
International Crossing to Jordan.
-
- During the Intifada, things changed. Beit Hanoon (Erez)
crossing (the only one to Israel) closed. Gaza's airport was destroyed.
Rafah became the Strip's only exit. Then, since mid-2007, it closed under
siege.
-
- Because of more limited opportunities in Gaza, students
depend heavily on studying abroad, especially in medicine, the sciences,
and engineering. In addition, Gazan universities don't offer doctorate
level study.
-
- Cast Lead delivered another blow, destroying or damaging
many facilities and buildings, preventing reconstruction for lack of materials,
and inflicting numerous other acute hardships, in all, more than ever impeding
education. Gazan students had to cancel foreign registrations, give up
scholarships, and stay home. Some examples include:
-
- Rashid Jamal Hmeidan Sha'at, hoping to become an engineer,
joined the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport
in Egypt. But under siege, he changed fields and longtime ambition, explaining:
-
- After high school in 2009, he applied to the faculty
of engineering at the Egyptian Academy and was admitted. He immediately
applied for the right to travel but couldn't through closed borders. As
a result, "I joined the Faculty of Commerce at Al-Azhar University.
(There, he) found many students who preferred to study majors available
in Gaza to waiting for an unknown future."
-
- Osama Al-Jadi was admitted to Cairo University to study
medicine, attended for four years, then returned home for three months
"due to urgent family circumstances." He now fears that his "future
will be devastated because" he missed two months of the new semester
of his fifth year, and has to deal with border closures that may prevent
him entirely, besides not having returned to Cairo before his residency
permission expired.
-
- Asma' Emadeddin 'Awad Shhada "was admitted at Damascus
University, Faculty of Law," but can't leave Gaza to attend despite
having "all required documents (and) fulfilling travel conditions."
Now she fears having to forgo her education entirely.
-
- Mohammed Mahmoud Tabasha received "a scholarship
to study medicine at Hodeidah University in Yemen," then obtained
a visa through its embassy in Cairo. He registered at the Interior Ministry
to travel but so far has been denied. This "means destroying my future
as I will lose the scholarship and I will lose the chance of studying my
favorite major."
-
- Many other students expressed the same fears - lost scholarships
and futures in their chosen careers, some in fields Gaza vitally needs
like medicine, engineering, and the sciences.
-
- Israeli harshness even prevents them from studying in
the West Bank, and those there fear expulsion under Israel's new military
Orders No. 1650 (Prevention of Infiltration) and No. 1649 (Security Provisions)
that subject anyone in the Territory without a permit to arbitrary deportation.
-
- Effective April 13, 2010, they're presumed to be unlawful
"infiltrators," and may be told to leave on short notice or be
fined and/or imprisoned, then expelled. Some have already been deported.
-
- Prior to military restrictions, thousands of Gazan students
studied in the West Bank. Then on March 12, 1996, a military order expelled
1,200, at most let a few dozen remain, before during the Intifida Israel
tightened restrictions further. Then the siege sealed off Gaza entirely,
allowing only small numbers to leave, and now West Bank Palestinians may
be arbitrarily expelled.
-
- Berlanti Jaris Boulus 'Azzam was one, deported to Gaza
on October 28, 2009 after she was stopped at a military checkpoint, detained
many hours, then charged with illegal West Bank residency. She was arrested,
interrogated, handcuffed, blindfolded, detained, then taken to the Erez
crossing and expelled to Gaza. Since 2005, she's been a Bethlehem University
business administration student, in her last semester, two months short
of graduation.
-
- Gisha, the Israeli Legal Center for Freedom of Movement,
intervened in her behalf to Israel's High Court of Justice (HCJ) to no
avail, even though it ruled that the IDF failed to follow proper procedures
by not letting her present her case. Israel's government and military routinely
disregard Supreme and other court rulings. Follow-up judicial action is
absent.
-
- Yet denying Palestinians their right to education violates
fundamental international human rights and humanitarian laws, including
Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights stating:
-
- "Everyone has the right to education. Education
shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. (Higher)
education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit."
-
- Also, Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) stating:
-
- "The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize
the right of everyone to education. They agree that education shall be
directed to the full development of the human personality and the sense
of its dignity, and shall strengthen the respect for human rights and fundamental
freedoms. (It) shall also enable all persons to participate effectively
in a free society (and) be made equally accessible to all...."
-
- As a signatory, Israel is legally bound to ICESCR provisions,
yet its actions defile it like other human and humanitarian rights laws.
As the occupying power, it's legally obligated to fulfill its responsibilities.
Yet as a belligerent, it refuses in all respects, so far with impunity.
-
- Not condemned or opposed, Israel not only denies Palestinians
education and other vital services, it's unaccountable for high crimes
and abuses, including mass incarcerations, murder, torture, slow motion
genocide in Gaza, and to a lesser degree in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
-
- PCHR calls on other nations to fulfill their obligations
"to immediately act to stop the policy of collective punishment"
against defenseless Palestinian civilians - so far not achieved, but with
continued pressure, it's coming.
-
- Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com
and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the
Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays
at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs
are archived for easy listening.
-
- http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
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