Adalah to Supreme Court: Severe Shortage of Educational Psychologists in Unrecognized Arab Bedouin Villages in the Naqab

On 10 May 2006, Adalah submitted a petition to the Supreme Court of Israel against the Ministry of Education (MOE), demanding the appointment of educational psychologists in five schools in the unrecognized Arab Bedouin villages of Im Batin, Abu Tulul, al-Qarin and al-Fur'a in the Naqab (Negev) region in southern Israel, in accordance with the MOE's own criteria. Adalah filed the petition three years after first submitting a request to the MOE for the provision of the required number of educational psychologists for the five schools.

The petition was filed by Adalah Attorney Morad el-Sana on behalf of the families of school children from the four unrecognized villages, the Follow-Up Committee on Arab Education, the Regional Council for the Unrecognized Villages in the Naqab (RCUV) and the Cultural Society of the Naqab, and in Adalah's own name. A total of 3,650 students are enrolled in the five schools, which serve as the elementary and junior high schools for the four villages. There is no high school is any of the unrecognized villages.

None of the five schools identified in the petition has a single educational psychologist on staff, a fact which attests to the severe shortage of educational psychologists in schools in the unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Naqab. As Attorney el-Sana emphasized in the petition, while as many as 85% of schools in Arab Bedouin villages in the Naqab operate without the assistance of educational psychologists, this figure falls to only 13% with regard to Jewish schools in the Naqab.

Primarily, MOE-appointed educational psychologists are responsible for identifying, diagnosing and treating students with learning and developmental disabilities; providing suitable educational frameworks for students with special needs; giving consultation to teachers, principals, and other educators in dealing with the educational, emotional and behavioral difficulties of students; and providing consultation at the community level.

Adalah argued in the petition that the enormous gap in the resources invested in the Arab and Jewish educational systems in the Naqab violates the principle of equality and constitutes discrimination on the basis of national belonging, and is therefore unacceptable. Moreover, the petitioners contended that the failure of the MOE to provide the required number educational psychologists cripples the ability of the school system to provide necessary support and assessment of students, and to seek external assistance for students with serious learning, emotional or behavioral difficulties. In the absence of these services, the educational institutions in the four villages are unable to guarantee that pupils' basic and essential needs are met. The petition emphasized that the dire socio-economic situation and well-documented neglect of the Arab educational system necessitates the allocation of educational psychologists.

The petitioners also stressed that their request for the appointment of educational psychologists is in accordance with MOE's own recommendations, which establish the required number of education psychologists according to the number of number of pupils and classes in a school. These recommendations have been applied by the MOE and the RCUV to other schools in the Naqab, although not to any of the unrecognized villages. Adalah further argued that MOE is obliged to allocate educational psychologists in the unrecognized villages according to Governmental Order #4502 from December 2005, which ordered the appointment of educational psychologists in all schools as part of a plan to combat violence in the educational system.

Adalah included in the petition official reports issued by committees established by the MOE, human rights organizations and the State Comptroller, all of which discuss the essential role played by educational psychologists and the need for them in the Arab Bedouin villages in the Naqab. According to the reports, schools in the Arab sector suffer from a severe shortage of educational psychologists, which requires urgent remedy.

The petitioners emphasized that, despite the acknowledged need and after the numerous requests made to them, the MOE and local authorities have failed to respond and to fulfill their obligations to provide equal access to educational counseling and services for Arab Bedouin citizens of Israel.

The current petition was submitted in the aftermath of a petition previously filed by Adalah on 4 May 2004 (H.C. 4177/04, Yusef Abu-Abied, et. al. v. The Ministry of Education, et. al.), which demanded that the Court order the state to provide the necessary number of psychologists in seven government-planned Arab Bedouin towns in the Naqab. On 6 June 2005, in response to the petition, the Attorney General acknowledged that the MOE has discriminated against schools in the seven towns in the appointment of educational psychologists and informed the Court that the MOE had committed to increasing the number of educational psychologists' positions from 30% to 80% within two years, so as to become equal to the rate provided as of that date to Jewish schools in the Naqab. The state also obligated itself in its decision to pursue a policy of affirmative action in education over the long term for Arab Bedouin students in the Naqab. In submitting the current petition, Adalah aims to build on this decision to secure the educational benefits afforded to students through the services of educational psychologists for Arab Bedouin citizens living in the unrecognized villages, in order to enable them to exercise their right to education.

H.C. 3926/06, Al-Sayed Abed El-Dayem et. al v. The Ministry of Education and The Abu Basma Regional Council. (case pending).