Adalah: Leaving Arab School Pupils in Led without a Secondary School is Illegal
On 22 July 2008, Adalah sent an urgent letter to the Mayors of Led (Lod) and Ramle to inquire about the two municipalities’ intention to divide up an Arabic-language secondary school attended by Arab pupils from the two towns. Adalah also asked whether the Municipality of Led has a specific, clear plan to establish a new secondary school for Arab students.
Adalah sent the letter after the mayor of Ramle announced his intention to restrict entry to the Led-Ramle Arabic-language secondary school to Arab pupils from Ramle only.
During the past academic year, close to 1,300 pupils studied at the school, the majority of whom were from Led. In the letter, which was sent by Adalah Attorney Sawsan Zaher, Adalah argued that restricting the school to pupils from Ramle would leave Arab pupils from Led without a secondary school, as there is no Arabic-language state secondary school in the town itself.
Adalah emphasized that levels of educational achievement at the school are in any case very low, with only 34% of pupils passing the final Bagrout examination (matriculation), compared with the national average of 57.6%. In addition, according to statistics published by the Center for Child Safety, a very high proportion – 19.3% – of Arab pupils from Led drop out of school; however, estimates of local families put the true figure even higher, at over 35%, which is far greater than the national average of 4.6%. The number of children classified as being “at risk” (from violence, drug abuse, crime, etc.) is also very high.
In these circumstances, dividing up the Led-Ramle secondary school and leaving Arab pupils in Led without a local secondary school would be a devastating blow and would only lead to a further fall in educational achievement and rise in the drop-out rate.
Attorney Zaher also stressed that the lack of an Arabic-language secondary school in Led would constitute a breach of the municipality’s legal obligations under the State Education Law and the Free Education Law.
