Students forced to stay home
צילום: גדי קבלו
Southern school slips through cracks
Months away from final exams,150 high school students remain home as special education institute forced shut due to lack of funding. PTA head: 'These students don't fit in anywhere else, do they want them to become drug addicts, thieves?'
Around 150 students from the Bedouin sector were forced to stay home on Sunday when the management of Neve Darom high school in the southern town of Ar'ara decided to close its doors due to lack of State funding.
The school was home to students of the 10th to 12th grades who were rooted out from the regular education system. Neve Darom is considered an unofficial institution; hence the funding it receives is minimal.
"We had no choice but to shut down," CEO of the institution, Rateb Masaad, told Ynet. "I never thought we would be forced into such a situation. These are students who don't fit into the normal school system, so they arrived here."
Nasser Shamekh, an English teacher employed by the school, broke the news to some of his students. "This morning I saw a group of students start to cry," he said. "It hurts me to see them. These are high school students that were supposed to take final exams in a few months, and now they will be forced to drop out because no one will teach them."
Salah Azberga, who heads the PTA, also bemoaned the situation. "These students have nowhere else to go. Do they want to see them become drug addicts and thieves?"
Masaad explained that the school was forced to close its doors when its financial difficulties no longer allowed for the payment of teachers' salaries.
The Education Ministry responded to the allegations by stating that "the institution's management has made a one-sided announcement about closing its doors due to claims of financial difficulties. Therefore the relevant regional councils have been asked to accept the students into alternate education systems in their towns."
