The Petition (H)
Ruling on an urgent motion for an injunction submitted by Adalah on 19 October 2005, the Haifa District Court ordered the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Regional Council of Misgav to resume transportation by bus for 150 junior high and high school students from the Arab Bedouin villages of Kammaneh and Husseniya to their school in the village of Nahaf in the north of Israel immediately.
On 10 October 2005, Adalah Attorney Sawsan Zaher submitted a petition and a motion for injunction in Adalah’s own name and in the name of parents of school students from Kammaneh and Husseniya and a teacher from the Nahaf school against the MOE and the Misgav Regional Council. The petitioners challenged a decision of the Regional Council to halt the children’s bus transportation to their school in Nahaf, the route to and from which from their homes is approximately 15 kilometers in length. This decision was made, according to the Regional Council, as a result of another decision to transfer new students from Kammaneh and Husseniya to schools located in village of Wadi Salami, the route to and from which from the two villages is around 25 kilometers.
The Regional Council of Misgav suspended bus service at the beginning of the school year. On investigating the issue, concerned parents discovered that in March 2004, Misgav Regional Council, the municipal authority for Kammaneh, Husseniya and Wadi Salami, decided to transfer incoming junior high and high school students to schools in Wadi Salami. The Regional Council had also decided that students already enrolled in the Nahaf junior high and high schools would remain at their current schools. Students from both villages had been attending schools in Nahaf for forty years prior to the decision. At no point during the one and a half years since making the decision did the Regional Council inform the parents or the students. When confusion over the students’ enrollment led to further difficulties, the Regional Council suspended transportation to Nahaf for the students by bus. As a result, the students were left to undertake the daily commute on their own. While some families drove their children to school, many students were forced to walk, often arriving late and exhausted. A number of parents kept their children – especially girls – at home, fearing the potential dangers of the commute.
In the petition, Adalah argued that suspending the operation of the students’ transportation by school bus violates their right to education, which under Israel law requires the state to provide transportation for students to and from school. Adalah further argued that the Regional Council’s decision to transfer incoming students to schools in Wadi Salami contradicts Supreme Court case law, according to which parents enjoy the discretion to decide which school their children will attend.
In addition to issuing the injunction, the Haifa District Court ordered the MOE and the Misgav Regional Council to submit a response to the petition within 14 days, and set a hearing on the case for 30 October 2005.
Admin. Petition 1345/05, Muhammad Ibrahim Sawaed, et. al. v. Misgav Regional Council and Ministry of Education (Haifa District Court) (case pending).