Last update - 00:00 30/08/2007
Arab sector schools to strike in protest against discrimination
By Or Kashti and Mijal Grinberg, Haaretz Correspondents
Schools in the Arab sector are planning to stage a three-day warning strike, instead of starting the school year alongside the remainder of Israel's schools, in protest over the government's discrimination against the Israeli Arab education system.
The decision to strike was taken Thursday evening after a meeting between the Arab sector's local council heads, the Arab education monitoring committee and the national union of Arab parents' associations. The groups harshly criticized what they termed blatant discrimination against the Arab sector and its education system.
The Arab sector representatives attended a meeting Thursday afternoon with the director general of the Interior Ministry as well as representatives from the Education Ministry and the Prime Minister's Office, in efforts to stave off the strike.
"Israel's government is discriminating against half a million Arab students who won't be back in school when September begins," said Shuweiki Hatib, the chairman of the national committee of Arab local council heads.
The education monitoring committee explained said the Arab sector received 600 classrooms where 1,400 were required last year, and insufficient budget for renovations, security and rental of kindergarten premises.
The Secondary School Teachers' Association on Thursday decided to obey a National Labor Court ruling and refrain from going on strike and delaying the start of the school year.
On Monday, the court issued an injunction barring the teachers from going on strike on September 2, the scheduled first day of the school year. The teachers planned to strike in protest of an ongoing wage dispute and the failure of talks with the Finance Ministry and the Education Ministry.
The teachers' association had announced it may ignore the injunction and strike anyway, but on Thursday the group announced it would abide by the court's ruling.
"We have considered all the options, and for now we've decided to respect the court's decision," said Secondary School Teachers' Association Chairman Ran Erez on Thursday. "We are waiting to see what the court's position will be in an additional hearing that will take place on September 6, and maybe then we will decide to violate the injunctions."
The court has ruled that it would reconsider allowing the teachers to strike if negotiations with the treasury and the education ministry should bear no fruit by the second week of the school year.
"If we violate the injunction now, the judge could develop ambitions and make an unsound decision only to 'teach the teachers a lesson.' We decided to give [the negotiations] another chance. Should the court continue with its current position, it would be proof that the court is positioned against the teachers' association, and we will change our position in response."
Erez met on Thursday with the director of wages at the Finance Ministry, Eli Cohen. Erez said of the meeting "the treasury wants first to conduct negotiations on education reforms for a few months, and if those talks fail, only then will we discuss wage increases. This would mean another delay in the payment of additional wages to teachers. We have no intention of entering these empty discussions."
Meanwhile, the parents' association in the western Negev town of Sderot has decided to send their children to school on time, despite the ongoing threat of Qassam rocket fire and the lack of protection against them in classrooms.
"Despite the state's policy of foot dragging and ignoring the facts regarding the reinforcement of Sderot schools, we respect the ruling of the High Court of Justice which ordered that the state be given a 21-day extension [to take action]," the parents' association said in a statement Thursday.
According to the parents, the government has pledged to build six new schools, as the parents had requested. The state also promised to reinforce the existing schools, to double the number of buses in the school transportation fleets, to refrain from cutting hours from the standard school day, to refrain from firing teachers and to find solutions for the unprotected schools and school bus stations.
The parents announced that they will shut down the school if the government does not fulfill their promises within the time allotted by the court. "In the interest of giving our children a semblance of routine within the reality of the daily Qassam barrages, we have decided to open the school year," the parents said.