The Ministry of Education (MOE), the Abu-Basma Regional Council and the Director of the Authority for Bedouin Settlement in the Negev have been ordered to respond by 4 December 2008 to a petition submitted to the Supreme Court of Israel by Adalah, demanding the construction of a safe access road to the school in the unrecognized village of Al-Sayyid in the Naqab (Negev).
Adalah Attorney Morad El-Sana filed the petition on 20 November 2008 on behalf of the parents’ committee at the village’s elementary school, the Follow-Up Committee for Arab Education in Israel, the Association of Forty, the Regional Council for the Unrecognized Arab Villages in the Naqab, and Adalah. The existing access road to the school in Al-Sayyid is extremely problematic and poses a danger to the pupils and teachers who use it on daily basis. The petition emphasizes that as many as four pupils have been killed on the road to date because of its appalling safety conditions. The most recent fatality occurred on 5 March 2008 when a pupil, Abd Al-Naim Al-Sayyid, was killed when hit by a bus. The deceased boy’s father, Mr. Naim Al-Sayyid, is the first petitioner listed in the petition.
Adalah sent a pre-petition to the Attorney General’s Office in this regard on 15 April 2008, but after this intervention failed to yield results, Adalah petitioned the Supreme Court. Justice Edna Arbel ruled on the day on which the petition was filed that the MOE and Abu-Basma Regional Council must present their response within 14 days.
There are two elementary schools in Al-Sayyid, which are located adjacent to one other and serve the residents of the village and surrounding area. There are also ten pre-school facilities and a health clinic on the school site. In January 2004, the National Council for Planning and Building (NCPB) identified the schools in the unrecognized villages as centers for the provision essential services, primarily education and health services. The NCPB also recognized the need to pave roads to these essential service centers.
Close to 1,500 pupils study at the elementary schools in Al-Sayyid. The only road leading to these schools is an access route from the main road between Beer el-Sabe (Beer Sheva) and Arrad (Route 31). Around 30% of the students arrive to the school by bus, but many others walk along the same route on which cars travel. This situation poses a real danger to the children walking along this road, where visibility is very poor. The road to the school is narrow, damaged and hazardous, particularly on rainy days in the winter. The petition argues that the failure to pave a safe access road to the schools in Al-Sayyid entails a violation of the pupils’ right to education. The Abu-Basma Regional Council and MOE are obliged to guarantee the basic rights to education and access to education, as well as ensure the physical safety of pupils.
Attorney El-Sana emphasized in the petition that the planning authorities have recently declared their intention to recognize Al-Sayyid, a move that would significantly expedite the planning process for a permanent community at the village’s current location, and improve the infrastructure in the village, including the access road to the schools. He argued that in the wake of this decision and the anticipated change in the village’s planning status, there is no reason to prevent construction of the road to the school. However, the MOE and Abu-Basma Regional Council's failure to take action endangers the lives of the children.
The petition underlines the fact that Adalah has approached the Abu-Basma Regional Council and MOE on numerous occasions, but has not received a practicable response to the demand to pave a safe access road to the schools.
Case Citation: H.C. 9817/08, Naim Al-Sayyid, et al. v. Ministry of Education, et al. (case pending)