The Background
The Project
The Goals

The Background
Education is a concern of upmost importance among the Palestinian community. Both the public and private education system within Israel is divided into Arabic-speaking and Hebrew-speaking schools. While Palestinian citizens may register their children in Hebrew-speaking schools, they nearly always register their children in Arabic-speaking schools which are nearer to their homes.

The curricula in both systems of education are dictated by the Ministry of Education and emphasize Jewish history, culture and literature. The Arab curriculum, often a poor translation of the Jewish curriculum, does not adequately reflect the Arab community’s desire for their children to study their own history, culture and literature which help to celebrate their identity as Palestinians. In addition, Arab students are required to study Hebrew, Judaism, and Jewish literature (including the Jewish religious texts), whereas Jewish students are not reciprocally exposed to the Arab culture, religion and literature.

Arab schools continue to confront issues of inadequate resources, shortages of textbooks and study materials, the overcrowding of classrooms and lack of suitable training for teachers, all of which result into a poorer educational experience for Arab youth. Indeed, budget allocations by the government to the Arab Education System (AES) are far less than allocations to the Jewish Education System.

This lack of support in the AES creates a negative experience for the pupils, academically, personally, professionally, and socially often leading to under-achievement in the classroom as well as high drop-out rates. Indeed, “there is a higher rate of dropping-out rates among Arab citizens of Israel: the national average rate at which pupils dropped out of the education system in 2006-2008 was 7.2% among Arab pupils in grades 9-12, almost double the figure among Jews (3.7%); a similar pattern of dropping-out applies at grades 9-11: 8.7% among Arab compared to 4.4% among Jewish pupils” (Adalah’s New Report on Education 2009).

There also exists a huge gap between Arab and Jewish pupils to obtain the Bagrut matriculation (high school diploma) and satisfy university entrance examinations. According to the Central Bureau Statistics’ Statistical Abstract of Israel 2008 (No. 59, Table 8.25) the number of pupils in Grade 12 with Matriculation Certificates who met university entrance requirements in 2006 were as follows:

Entitled to a matriculation certificate: 54.9% (Jewish) 46.3% (Arab)
Met university entrance requirements: 48.3% (Jewish) 34.4% (Arab)

Parents have an important role to play within schools in order to change the above mentioned reality. Many do not know that the Compulsory Education Law gives parents the right to be organized, elect representatives, and defend their children's right to education before the local authorities and the Ministry of Education.

The AES is controlled by the Ministry of Interior in an attempt to keep the school staff under surveillance. Arab teachers first have to go through examination during the first three years of their career in order to get the final approval from the Ministry of Interior depending on their loyalty to the State. This restrains any change within the teaching staff in schools and also restrains any creativity when it comes to pedagogy towards Arab pupils.

Due to such measures, the parents are the only ones who slip through ministries' control and have some influence within the AES. Thus, parents can be a powerful actor in improving the schools’ environment and the future of the whole community by lobbying and advocating before local and governmental institutions. By reaching the parents and by giving them the information and the opportunity to get involved in the improvement of their children's schooling, the project can positively influence the future of thousands of Arab students.

The Project
Because of the potential of parent's influence in their children's education, Ahali has designed the Parents as Partners campaign. Training courses for parents to equip them to become partners in the education of their children through direct involvement and cooperation with the teaching staff of their children’s schools was a necessary first step. A prime goal of the parent training courses is to prepare them to develop an educational system which would respond to the perceived needs of the students and be interactive with the surrounding community.

Ahali has sought to develop local and national parent-school organizations to apply pressure on the authorities (Department of Education at the level of the local authority; Ministry of Education and Knesset committees at the national level) through lobbying and advocacy. Such actions must be taken to make the necessary changes in regulations and in education policy in general as it applies to schooling in the Arab sector. In cases where conditions are appropriate, there may be room for Arab national parent-school associations to join forces with similar Jewish organizations to achieve universally beneficial changes (e.g. a “computer for every child” program).

Ahali embarked on a 4-year program with the goal to encompass all Arab schools in Israel. In the first stage, the program started in 16 schools in eight localities from the Negev in the south all the way to the north including the mixed cities (cities with both Arab and Jewish Israeli populations). During the first year, Ahali offered a parent training course, equipping them with the knowledge and the ability to prepare relevant curricula to propose to the schools with the participation of appropriate professional groups. They were taught to analyze the existing situation, identify its shortcomings and develop ideas to cure the ills they discover.

In the second phase, Ahali will document the processes and the activities and prepare a training handbook for parents. In future phases we will continue to improve and develop the program. At the same time, efforts will be invested in the creation of a country-wide organization one of whose main objectives will be to advocate for the creation of legislation that will allow for parents to participate in the formulation of school curricula and enable them to be involved in the implementation of programs designed to cater to the special needs of the Palestinian student body. Combined with extensive advocacy programs aimed at convincing government ministries and other decision makers, actions will be directed towards the press, authors and a broad range of opinion makers throughout the country, all of whom will be expected to align themselves with the national organization in its efforts to effect important changes in the curriculum of the Arab sector.

The Goals
The importance of the program to the country as a whole and to Arab students in particular can be summarized in the following points:

• It will treat the alienation of a large body of Arab students towards Israeli society.
• It aims to eliminate the feelings of alienation of young Arabs towards their own society, yet their seclusion and withdrawal from any attempt at external contact.
• Significant reduction of the unemployment rate among young Arabs.
• The program is designed better to equip young Arabs, and especially high school students, with improved means to confront their peers in and beyond their own society and to deal with them directly in solving differences and grievances.
• Reduction in the dropout rate at all levels of education.
• The program will improve the quality of Arab university graduates.
• It will create a social movement to promote a democratic society.