Adalah: Ministry of Education Must Take Specific, Practical Measures to End to the Phenomenon of Illiteracy among Arab Bedouin Women in the Naqab
On 25 March 2009, Adalah sent a letter to the Minister of Education (MOE), Yuli Tamir, demanding that she take immediate measures to bring an end to the extremely high rate of illiteracy among Arab Bedouin women in the Naqab (Negev).
According to statistics published in a report recently issued by the Galilee Society: The Arab National Society for Health Research and Services, entitled, “Palestinians in Israel – The Reality in Numbers,” the rate of illiteracy among Arab women in Israel in general, and among Bedouin women in particular, is far higher than the rate among Jewish women. According to the report, illiteracy rates among Arab Bedouin women in the Naqab stand at 13.2% among the 35-39 year-old age group, 31.7% among the 40-44 years age group, 61.4% among the 45-49 year-old age group, 53.5 among the 50-59 year-old age group, and 92.3% among the 60+ age group.
In 2003, the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) reported that the illiteracy rate among Arab women citizens of Israel stood at 14.7% overall, compared to a parallel rate of 4.5% among Jewish women. Most of these Arab women live in the Naqab. According to the data published by the Galilee Society, illiteracy rates among Arab women in 2008 is far higher than the average rate reported by the CBS in 2003, and the gap between the illiteracy rates among Arab and Jewish women is widening. The letter also cited the high drop-out rate from school among Arab Bedouin citizens on Israel in the Naqab living in the unrecognized villages, which stands at 70% among children aged 15-17. Adalah argued that the high drop-rate is a significant contributing factor to the high rates of illiteracy within the Arab Bedouin community.
Through the course of its previous correspondence with the MOE, Adalah has learned that the ministry’s Adult Education Department is responsible for tackling illiteracy among adults, and that the department has an annual budget of NIS 54 million. The vast majority of this sum is invested in Hebrew-language courses for new Jewish immigrants. The department holds a large number of courses designed to reduce illiteracy rates in southern Israel, but the number of Arab Bedouin women enrolled in them is very low. The MOE attributes this low number to the decision of the women themselves not to register on the courses. However, as Attorney Zaher argued in the letter, the low level of participation among Arab Bedouin women is due to the fact that the courses are held far from their villages and because of the absence of public transportation services in the villages.
Adalah contended that the MOE is required to take special measures to encourage Arab women to enroll on illiteracy courses, in order to contain and reduce the phenomenon of illiteracy. Adalah emphasized that the inability to read and write impedes women’s development in all spheres of life, including child-raising and finding employment, and prevents them from working themselves out of poverty.
