With the beginning of a new academic year, as every year, the occupation authorities begin the process of education in the city of Jerusalem, with multiple restrictions and persecutions, aiming to impose complete control over the schools in the city and the curriculum taught to students.
From distributing “corrupted books” to schools affiliated with the municipality and the Ministry of Education, imposing their distribution on private schools that receive budgets from them, and confiscating books, to opening classrooms to teach the Israeli curriculum, then opening private schools to teach the Israeli curriculum, all the way to threatening not to recognize schools that teach the curriculum. Palestinian.
At the end of the week, the occupation authorities confiscated Palestinian curriculum books on their way to one of the “Bilara” private school in Old Jerusalem, which implements the Palestinian curriculum, and arrested the school employee and the driver who was transporting the books. At the beginning of the week, they arrested the students of the “Al-Aqsa Sharia School” and confiscated the books from the students’ bags. .
Yesterday, the police stationed at Lions Gate - one of the gates of Al-Aqsa - arrested some students of Al-Aqsa School, searched the bags, confiscated books from them, and prevented them from being brought into the school. The reason, as the responsible officer said, was “the presence of the Palestinian flag, the flag, and the emblem of the Palestinian state on the books, in addition to some “Incitement lessons,” and he also said, “These books are taught in the cities of Ramallah and Abu Dis and are not taught in Jerusalem schools.”
Analyst Rasem Obaidat: The war on education is a war on reason and thought
Regarding the restrictions and harassment imposed by the occupation authorities on the educational process in the city of Jerusalem, analyst Rasem Obaidat said that the war on schools is a war on the mind, thought, culture and memory of our people.
He added: "The war began early on the educational process, because the occupation realized its importance and the importance of schools in refining personality and strengthening belonging in the country, while the occupation seeks in every way to instill awareness among Palestinian students and control memory."
Obaidat added: “The occupation gradually gained control over the educational process, distorting the Palestinian curriculum by “deleting and deleting” lessons, paragraphs, verses of poetry, and Qur’anic verses that talk about “martyrs, prisoners, lessons about colonialism... etc.” Then the occupation took a bigger step. He went further within the framework of controlling the curriculum in Jerusalem, by opening schools “that are according to the Israeli curriculum” only, and imposing restrictions by “withdrawing licenses and budgets” from schools that teach the Palestinian curriculum.
He said: "The occupation aims to end the existence of the Palestinian curriculum, and everything related to thought, identity and culture."
The Jabal Mukaber strike...continues
The new school year was opened at Al-Sawahra and Ibn Al-Haytham Secondary School in the village of Jabal Al-Mukabber with a strike, in protest against several matters, which were explained by Bassam Al-Sarkhi from the Central Parents Committee in Jabal Al-Mukaber: At the beginning of the current school year, the people were surprised that the new school in the “Al-Jaabis neighborhood” was... A matriculation secondary school, although it is planned as a “primary school for boys or girls.”
The committee confirmed its rejection of the presence of the secondary school due to its close proximity to homes in the Al-Jaabis neighborhood, and that the strike will continue until a new building prepared and prepared as an educational institution is secured.
The committee also affirmed its refusal to introduce the Israeli “matriculation” curriculum into Jabal Mukaber schools, especially the new school established in the “Al-Jaabis neighborhood.”
Bassam Al-Sarkhi pointed out that 800 students have not enrolled in their seats until now, due to the ongoing strike in the new school, and the “Ibn Al-Haytham” school, which has no transportation.
In the city of Jerusalem, there are 4 educational umbrellas: schools affiliated with the municipality and the Israeli Ministry of Education (the largest number of students study there), private and private schools, Islamic Endowments schools, and agency schools
Source: Maan News Agency