Report: 14,500 East Jerusalem children not in school due to lack of classrooms

Some 14,500 children in East Jerusalem are not recognized by educational authorities in East Jerusalem and it is not clear where - or even if - they are studying, according to a report prepared by the "Ir Amim" foundation.

The Ir Amim - or "City of the Nations" - foundation is dedicated to advancing relations between Jews and Palestinians in Jerusalem.

The report said there are 79,000 children of school age in East Jerusalem and only 64,536 children registered with the Jerusalem municipality and the Minister of Education studying in the public school system or in private schools such as those run by the Waqf Muslim religious trust, churches and private foundations.

The report reveals that during the past four years, the percentage of East Jerusalem children studying in public schools dropped from 62 percent to 55 percent.

The reports authors maintain this downward trend is the result of either a drop in the number of students or a lack of classrooms.

Since 1994, some 20,000 children entered the public education system and another few thousand were rejected due to a lack of classroom space. Only some 300 classrooms were built during this period but for each classroom built, 1.3 were closed, causing a severe space shortage.

The report's authors called on the Jerusalem municipality and the Education Minister to immediately build 1,000 public school classrooms in East Jerusalem. They also said Palestinian parents whose children were prevented from studying due to a lack of public school classrooms - in fact, a violation of the law - receive compensation for tuition they had to pay to private schools.