PHOTO: How palestinian pupils protested against closing of school
07.03.2017 - 11:36
The school’s administration was surprised by the ministry’s decision issued at the end of October to revoke the school’s license and shut it down completely School director Luay Bkeirat said that “intensive talks” have been ongoing within the school’s administration, which has contacted different entities in an attempt to transfer the 230 children to other schools, but both the students and their families have refused all alternatives.
The administration, he added, was undertaking all possible legal procedures to reopen the school. The school was opened last year and gained a temporary operating license from the Jerusalem municipality, and that the license was revoked in November for unknown reasons.
According to the Wadi Hilweh Information Center, Israeli Education Ministry officials visited al-Nukhba at the beginning of the school year to observe the curriculum, students, teachers, and employees, “and everything seemed positive.”
The school’s administration was surprised by the ministry’s decision issued at the end of October to revoke the school’s license and shut it down completely.
According to Bkeirat, an appeal submitted to the district’s court was rejected, and another appeal submitted to the Israeli Supreme Court was rejected as well, when the judge also ratified the closure.
The school is currently waiting for a session to be held at the Ministry of Education to discuss another appeal, which contests in particular the lack of transparency in the Israeli decision to close the school, as the precise justification for the move has remained unclear. Bkeirat said Monday that the ministry has yet to discuss the appeal.
According to Israeli media, the school was shut down for being a “Hamas front,” following a months-long joint probe by Israel’s Education Ministry, Jerusalem police, and Israeli intelligence, the Shin Bet.
Israeli authorities from the Ministry of Education reportedly claimed the school was established by Hamas with the aim of teaching “content that undermines the sovereignty of Israel,” and that the school’s aims were “consistent with the ideology of the terror organization, which calls for the destruction of Israel.”
The school’s director highlighted that a protest will be held outside of the Israeli prime minister’s residence to urge him to reopen the school.
Source: maannews.com