Adalah Petitions Supreme Court to Connect Seven Bedouin Schools in the Naqab to Electricity Grid

On 24 July 2013, Adalah filed a petition to the Israeli Supreme Court on behalf of the parents of children from seven schools in the Naqab (Negev) in southern Israel. The petitioners ask for the schools to be connected to the national electricity grid. Currently, the schools get their electricity from private generators for only a few hours a day. The amount of electricity is limited and constant interruptions in the supply causes mechanical problems in the generators that prevent air conditioners, computers, internet services and laboratories from working properly.

Generators in school playgrounds are a safety hazard

The petition, filed by Adalah Attorney Sawsan Zaher, points out that the large generators and fuel tanks are located in the school playgrounds, and that in many cases there is nothing to prevent the children from reaching them, a major health and safety hazard, making the playground a no-go area. The noise they create also hinders teaching. Ten other schools in the unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Naqab are in the same situation as the seven covered in the petition. These schools are the only schools in Israel that have not yet been connected to the national electricity network.

Expert electrical engineer confirms insufficiency of generator power

In an expert opinion included in the petition, electrical engineer Anan Batheesh stated that, “The Abu Kaff School in the village of Umm Batin has a relatively small generator that can supply electricity to only eight classrooms, but has to serve all of the school’s 25 classrooms. The school day is repeatedly shortened because it is not possible to continue teaching without air conditioning and lighting… The generator is very old, and has led on more than one occasion to computers burning out at the school. The school principal says that in the summer they teach for an average of just two hours a day.”

Less electricity, less school hours, lower educational attainment

The petitioners argue that the constant interruption of teaching has a huge impact on educational attainment among the children at these schools. For example, the percentage of children who qualify for a Baghrut certificate among Bedouin schhool students in Naqab is just 28.2%, compared with a figure of 66.4% among their Jewish counterparts.

Losing teaching hours because of the lack of electricity violates the children’s basic rights to education and equality. Further the safety hazards and pollution from the generators violates the children’s and the teachers’ rights to life, health, and physical integrity, and blatantly discriminate against them.

Case citation: HCJ 5247/13 Ibrahim Abu Kaff v. Ministry of Education

Bedouin children walking to school in the Naqab (Photo by Adalah)