Safer Schools in Rahat

April 6, 2008

After a two-year legal struggle against the Ministry of Education and the Rahat Municipality on the safety of Rahat schools, the SHATIL-led Forum for Arab Education in the Negev and local parents’ committees achieved a triple success last week. As a result of three court petitions, the Rahat Municipality confirmed that it conducted repairs to alleviate the hazardous conditions demanded by the petition in several city schools and is in the process of repairing hazardous conditions in others.  The petitions were submitted by the Forum and the parents’ committees with the legal assistance of the Center for Pluralism of the Union for Progressive Judaism.

The suits were served after an examination by an engineer contracted by the Forum and the parents’ committees found shocking safety violations in the schools and requests to address them went unanswered.

The sign in the center says: “One can die from safety defects. Our children are not second class citizens.” It was taken at a protest at the beginning of the school year about safety hazards in Negev schools.

“This victory was a long time in coming, but it is a sweet victory,” said Shmuel David, SHATIL lobby consultant to the Forum. SHATIL Be’er Sheva co-director Sultan Abu Abed cautioned that while the Forum has had many successes, Bedouin education in the Negev remains in a sorry state and much work still needs to be done.

Forum coordinator Dr. Awad Abu Freih noted: “I wonder at the fact that we have to turn to the courts in order to provide safe schools to protect the lives of our children and school personnel. We will continue to closely monitor the work done and the promises of the municipality.”