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The State of Education in East Jerusalem 2021-2022 Policy Papers

Over two decades ago, the Israeli Supreme Court established that Israeli authorities were violating their legal obligations in the field of education in light of the severe classroom de

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Three Years since the Implementation of Government Decision 3790: Monitor Report Reports

Click here to read full report

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2021 In Review: Israel's Policy In East Jerusalem Reports

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The State of Education in East Jerusalem 2020-2021 Policy Papers

Ir Amim's annual report on the state of education in East Jerusalem for the 2020-2021 school year.

Summary of Findings

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The State of Education in East Jerusalem 2020: Discrimination Against the Background of Covid19 Reports

Access PDF Here: The State of Edu

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State of Education in East Jerusalem: 2019 Report Policy Papers

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Education Report 2017: Fifty Years of Neglect Reports

In recent years, the school system in East Jerusalem has been coping with a continued shortage of classrooms as well as the highest dropout rates recorded in data collected by Israel; while at the same time confronting the considerable stress being exerted, mainly by the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Jerusalem Affairs, to impose the Israeli curriculum on the Palestinian national community in the city. The combination of neglected infrastructure and elaborate political attempts to influence content has left the school system in East Jerusalem in dire straits. Along with mounting pressure from the Israeli government, the disparities reviewed in this report have serious ramifications for tens of thousands of Palestinian children in East Jerusalem.

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Hebrew University to Become First Israeli School to Recognize Palestinian Authority Test Scores In the Media

Oshrat Maimon, the policy advocacy director at Ir Amim, noted that the NGO had contacted the university on several occasions on the issue. "We hope that the university's recognition of the tawjihi, which is recognized by the best universities around the world, will lead to improved educational and employment opportunities for Palestinian university students from Jerusalem."

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Education Report 2016: Between the Hammer and the Anvil Reports

This year’s annual survey presents new data on the growing shortage of classrooms and dropout rates in East Jerusalem, exposing the surge in unofficial schools filling the vacuum of municipal facilities and mounting pressure on Palestinians to adopt the Israeli curriculum.

This is the first annual education report since the 2011 High Court ruling establishing that the staggering shortage of classrooms in East Jerusalem in the official educational system constitutes a violation of the constitutional right to education for the students of East Jerusalem. The Court ruling mandated the Jerusalem Municipality and the Ministry of Education to ensure that within five years (by February 2016) all students in East Jerusalem who elect to study in the official system would be able to fulfill that expectation. The Court also ruled that in order to realize the Compulsory Education Law, the state must underwrite the tuition of any student who is unable to secure a spot in the official education system and who is consequently forced to enroll in one of the recognized but unofficial schools operating in East Jerusalem.

Five years after the High Court ruling:

The shortage of classrooms in East Jerusalem – which now stands at 2,672 – has actually only worsened.
A total of 23,500 Palestinian children in East Jerusalem are not registered at a known educational institution; and this year, for the first time, the number of students in unofficial classrooms in East Jerusalem exceeded the number of those in official institutions.
East Jerusalem has the highest dropout rates in Israel. Every year, more than 1,300 students drop out of the education system in East Jerusalem.

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City Hall gets ever more creative in ignoring E. Jerusalem school shortage Articles/ Op-Eds

Aviv Tatarsky: As the Jerusalem municipality is gradually forced to acknowledge a catastrophic shortage of classrooms in the city’s Palestinian districts, it also finds brave new ways to avoid tackling it.

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How Many New Schools Has Israel Built in East Jerusalem? Depends Who’s Counting In the Media

According to Ir Amim’s education report, and contrary to Municipality statements, there will be only 38 new classrooms in East Jerusalem as the school year begins, with another 44 under construction and some 400 in the planning stages. Over 22,000 East Jerusalem children and teens are not registered in any local school, public or private.

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Study: More east J’lem students opt for informal education over formal education frameworks In the Media

Ir Amim education report: shortage of classrooms in East Jerusalem has grown to 2,672 classrooms; Planning for public buildings allocated for Palestinians living in East Jerusalem constitutes 2.6 percent of all of East Jerusalem’s land.

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Netanyahu takes a shot at UK prime minister In the Media

Shlomi Eldar’s response to PM Netanyahu’s attack on UK PM David Cameron cites Ir Amim statistics on poverty in Jerusalem – 3.5 times higher among Arab families than Jewish ones

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Israel Objects to Building School in East Jerusalem, Says It Would Endanger Nearby Police Station In the Media

Ir Amim: “The mayor has a duty to make sure the plan is approved and that Sheikh Jarrah gets a much needed school.”

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Israel's Education Ministry to Pay East Jerusalem Schools to 'Israelize' Curriculum In the Media

Ir Amim report shows severe shortage of classrooms and high dropout rates in East Jerusalem. Ir Amim’s Oshrat Maimon: Severe neglect of EJ schools may leave them no choice but to accept ministry’s offer to switch from Palestinian to Israeli curriculum.

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Young Israeli Voices from West Jerusalem In the Media

Ir Amim's director of Public Outreach in roundtable discussion of leading social activists: “we can’t offer a 'shared Jerusalem' without recognizing the inequality and lack of symmetry between us.”

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Falling between the Cracks: Education Report 2015 Reports

The Supreme Court ruled in February 2011 that the tremendous shortage of classrooms in the official school system in East Jerusalem const

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Education Report 2014: Shortage of Classrooms in East Jerusalem Reports

Ir Amim’s monitoring focuses on the number of East Jerusalem classrooms still to be allocated and analysis of the progress of construction in the last 13 years since the issue was first brought before the Court. Regrettably, despite its recognition of the severe shortage and despite the commitment of professionals in the Jerusalem Municipality, the pace of classroom construction is not keeping up with population growth and, as a result, the number of required classrooms is actually growing each year.

A summary of this year's monitoring data indicates:

At least 8,100 East Jerusalem children are not presently enrolled in any known educational institution.
A total of 3,055 classrooms is required to close the gap: 408 school classrooms, 330 kindergarten classrooms, 681 classrooms to replace existing substandard ones and another 1,636 classrooms needed for children attending unofficial schools due to insufficient slots in the public school system.
In September 2014, 57 new classrooms are expected to open. Another 69 classrooms will be rented.
From 2001 until the opening of the upcoming school year, the Municipality will have built a total of 438 classrooms, which amounts to a bare 14% of the number required to close the existing gap.

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Education Report 2013: The Failing East Jerusalem Education System Reports

This report focuses on the severe shortage of classrooms in East Jerusalem, putting the number of missing classrooms at 2,200 - double t

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Dangerous Liaison - Dynamics of the Temple Movements Reports

Recent tensions on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif are not isolated events but part of the growing rise of Temple movements-organizations and groups committed to challenging existing arrangements on this most contested of holy spaces. Despite Israel’s chief rabbis recently reinstating the ban on Jews ascending the Temple Mount, ascents are on the rise, along with a range of activities to realize the Mount as the site of the Third Temple. The steady advance of these movements - and the permeation of their values into the public discourse - represents one of the most volatile issues in the Middle East conflict today. Ir Amim’s comprehensive report analyzes the dynamics of the growth of the Temple movements, their increasing acceptance in the political center in Israel and the nature and depth of ties between Temple groups and the Israeli political establishment.

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