Petition (H)On 12 September 2004, the Beer el-Sabe (Beer Sheva) District Court ordered the Beer el-Sabe Municipality and the Ministry of Education (MOE) to pay the external students’ fees and transportation costs for over 100 students, Palestinian citizens of Israel, as required by law. These students live in Beer el-Sabe, the largest city in the south of Israel, but must attend school in Tel el-Sabe (Tel Sheva) because no Arab schools exist in Beer el-Sabe.
The District Court’s ruling came in response to a petition filed on 9 September 2004 by Adalah Attorney Marwan Dalal on behalf of five fathers of the affected students against the Beer el-Sabe Municipality and the Ministry of Education (MOE), after the respondents refused to pay these expenses. In previous years, the Beer el-Sabe Municipality and the MOE did not deny their duty to pay these costs, as required by law. The decision to withhold payment affected approximately 80 Arab students who were to continue their studies in Tel el-Sabe, and an additional 25 students who sought to register in Tel el-Sabe for the 2004-2005 academic year. As a result of the refusal to pay, these students had not been attending school at all.
The Compulsory Education Law – 1949 obliges the MOE to provide free education for students until the age of 16. In the petition, Adalah argued that this law requires the respondents to pay the external students’ fees and transportation costs of pupils forced to study in a school outside of their place of residence, owing to the lack of an appropriate educational framework there. Thus, the respondents’ refusal to pay the fees is a breach of their duty under the law, and a violation of the students’ right to education. The petitioners further contended that the decision discriminates against the Arab students on the basis of their national belonging and violates the principle of equality and their right to dignity. Adalah also emphasized that the decision is arbitrary, since, in spite of the law’s clarity in this regard, the Beer el-Sabe Municipality and the MOE chose simply to disregard their legal obligation.
Beer el-Sabe District Court Case #328/04, Shehade, et. al. v. Beer el-Sabe Municipality, et. al.