Education in East Jerusalem - Background
In the upshot of the 1967 war, Israel has annexed East Jerusalem and treated it ever since as an integral part of the state. Although proclaimed illegal by the international community including the United States, the annexation has made Israel responsible for the welfare of the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem, now counting up to a quarter of a million.
According to the Israeli Act of Education, every child is entitled to free schooling and must be provided by the state and the municipality with a structural frame of education. In a place like East Jerusalem where poverty and unemployment predominate and lead the overall Israeli statistics, and where the rise in dropout rates coincide with drug use and crime, the need for a high-quality, supportive educational system is urgent.
Unfortunately, the schooling situation in East Jerusalem in general, and in Silwan in particular, is by far the worst in Israel. Among its ills are the shortage of classrooms, crowdedness, lack of supervision, lack of safe transportation to remote schools, severe security hazards, and underpayment of teachers. There are no sport halls at all, and no extracurricular activities. The plans for future improvement and growth are indecisive or nonexistent.
The indifference of the Israeli government and the Jerusalem municipality is largely ascribed to the political instability of East Jerusalem. As it seems, East Jerusalem will be part—if not the capital—of the forthcoming Palestinian state and therefore any Israeli investment is considered a total squander.
Education in Silwan
According to the Israeli Central Statistics Bureau, there are about 12,000 children in school age living in Silwan. Due to a shortage of classrooms and the nonexistence of secondary schools in Silwan, more than half have to study outside the village. There are inadequate and insufficient prearranged transportations to these remote schools, although the municipality is obliged to provide them by law. Furthermore, there is no official record of how many of these students who do not have a place in Silwan actually attend school.
Those who do attend schools in Silwan have to make do with security and sanitary hazards and grave studying conditions. Among else, these include broken and jagged tables and stools, corroded metal and refuse piling up in and around the schools, potholed courtyards, and makeshift classrooms in stifling caravans and basements without windows.
Al-Wa'ad association continuously fights to better the studying conditions in Silwan, and guarantee through legal procedures and Supreme Court appeals that the state of Israel and the Jerusalem municipality fulfill their obligations which are decreed by law.
Click here for detailed information on the conditions of schools in Silwan.
More Information
Click here for an extensive report on the educational system in East Jerusalem.
You can also download the report in PDF format.