Parents to keep kids home over school hazards

The new school year may officially open on Monday, but in many communities across Israel thousands of parents are planning to keep their children home,to protest what they call the deteriorating condition of schools.

The parents' association in the northern Druze village of Yirka, for one, has decided to launch a strike due to severe safety issues at the community's schools and adjacent roads. Association representatives told Ynet that they have contacted the Ministry of Education regarding the hazards last year but nothing has been done to rectify the situation.

The Yirka Parents' Association is planning to stage a protest rally in front of the City Council building and a second rally across the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem. Hazards aside, the association claims that Yirka, which is home to some 13,000 residents, still lacks two elementary schools and several kindergartens.

Dr. Orna Simhon, who head the Education Ministry's northern district, met with representatives of the Yirka Parents' Association earlier Sunday in an attempt to prevent the strike, but so far with no results.

Déjà vu?

The Kiryat Shmona Parents' Association is also threatening sanctions, in protest of the city's recent decision to cut back on school advisors and school buses. The latter recently suffered a 75% cut, making only 300 of the city's 1,200 elementary school children eligible for city-funded transportation.

"We are not pampering anyone. First graders cannot be expected to walk several miles to school and many families cannot afford transportation for themselves," Ronen Ben Zaken, head of the Kiryat Shmona Parents' Association, told Ynet.

Sanctions are also expected across the Arab sector, as a strike in under way in schools in Rahat, Haifa, Beit Jann, Shfaram and several Arab villages all plagued by severe safety hazards.

"We call on Education Minister Yuli Tamir to intervene immediately and enable us to launch the new school year," said A'attaf Muadi of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee. "We are talking about severe problems which put the children at risk."

Sakhnin is said to join the strike, but for another reason – its teachers have not been paid in several months.

The Gaza vicinity communities, on the other hand, are looking forward to a serene start to the school year, as opposed to the rocket-riddled beginning of the past eight years. Alon Shuster of the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council was both optimistic and realistic: "No one is kidding themselves. The students will continue to get the same security briefings and have drills, because we know how fragile the ceasefire is."

Sharon Roffe-Ofir, Ahiya Raved, Hagai Einav and Shmulik Hadad contributed to this report