Children's parents in the Knesset committee meeting
Photo: Gil Yohanan
Ethiopian parents say poor nursery school hygiene part of discrimination
Meeting in Knesset Aliyah and Absorption Committee held to examine claims of discrimination against Ethiopian toddlers in Beersheba day-care center. Parents say hygiene standards deficient, food lacking, Ethiopian children forced to sleep on floor. Lack of inspectors cited as part of problem
After hundreds of Ethiopians protested last week
in Beersheba against discrimination of their children in a nursery school in the city, the Knesset Immigration and Absorption Committee held a session Wednesday on the matter. During the meeting, toddlers' parents claimed that oversight of their schools is particularly delinquent.
"The children suffer from deficient hygiene and inadequate food," said one of the mothers, Blainsh Abara. "Due to the lack of mattresses, some of them sleep on the floor. When I complained to the nursery school teacher, she told me to bring a bed from home."
Rachel Shemesh, head of the welfare department in Beersheba Municipality, reported her findings during the meeting. "After examining the data, I saw severe hygiene and safety violations. I asked that they be rectified and appropriate authorizations be brought forth. This has yet to happen," she said.
Committee discussion on Wednesday (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
On the other hand, the manager of the Naot Margalit network, which operates the nursery school, stridently denied the parents' claims of discrimination. "Such things never existed. I have a picture on my cell phone that shows the children integrated."
Knesset Member Shlomo Molla (Kadima), who initiated the meeting, responded to her, "The question is not whether these things happened. We all know that they did and view your claims with grave concern. The Industry, Trade, and Labor Ministry and welfare representatives must hold an intensive professional discussion in order to examine whether this day-care center has the right to be in operation in light of the deficiencies that were found."
Another related issue raised during the discussion is the lack of regular oversight for nursery schools and day-care centers. A representative of the Industry, Trade, and Labor Ministry present in the meeting said that she is the only inspector in the Beersheba district, which is responsible for 260 day-care centers. Therefore, according to her, she only reaches each center once every year and a half to two years.
At the end of the meeting, the Knesset members called for additional inspectors to be instated. The committee also denounced the phenomenon of racism.
