Supreme Court: Education Ministry, Haifa Municipality and Pupils’ Parents Must Enter Promptly into Negotiations over Establishing an Arab School for the Arts in Haifa
On 4 August 2008, the Supreme Court of Israel heard a petition filed by Adalah and the Association for the Development of Arab Education in Haifa demanding that an official, special Arab school for the arts be opened in Haifa. The petition was submitted by Adalah Attorney Sawsan Zaher.
Following the submission of the petition, the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Municipality of Haifa offered to establish an “educational space” for Arabs pupils in Haifa, in which existing schools with special orientations will operate. In response, the petitioners asked that each school be able to derive benefit from this space according to its specialization, and that an Arabic-language special school for the arts be opened by 1 September 2008.
The Supreme Court rejected a motion filed by Municipality of Haifa seeking the dismissal of the petition, or its transfer to the Court of Administrative Affairs in Haifa. The court decided that given the difficulties involved in opening a school for the arts in Haifa for the upcoming academic year, the two sides must find immediate solutions for the children who have been studying at the Arab preschool for the arts in Haifa in the past year, and who will shortly enter the first grade. The court therefore ordered the two sides to enter promptly into negotiations – during August 2008 – over the curriculum to be studied by these children during the coming academic year, as a temporary solution designed to secure educational continuity. The two sides must also negotiate over the educational space proposed by the MOE and the Municipality of Haifa, and submit a report on the negotiations in November 2008.
H.C. 7339/07, The Association for the Development of Arab Education in Haifa, et al. v. The Ministry of Education and the Municipality of Haifa(pending)
For more information: Following the Petition of Adalah and the Association for the Development of Arab Education in Haifa, Education Ministry and Haifa Municipality Decide to Establish “Educational Space” for Arab Pupils in Haifa by 2010
The decision Of The Supreme Court (Hebrew)
The Ministry of Education and the Municipality of Haifa Response (Hebrew)
