On August 29, 2021, ACRI and the Clinic for Law and Educational Policy at the University of Haifa, petitioned the Administrative Court on behalf of five children of asylum seekers and their parents residing in Lod, along with ASSAF - Aid Organization for Refugees and Asylum Seekers. The petition was filed against the Municipality of Lod and the Ministry of Education, following the Mayor of Lod’s decision not to register the children in the city’s education system due to their ethnic origin and status in Israel.
The Ministry of Education ordered the municipality to integrate the children into the education system, yet the mayor refused to do so in protest of the insufficient funding from the Ministry of Education that is required for the absorption of the children of asylum seekers in schools and kindergartens in Lod. We believe that the mayor's struggle to increase the budget for children of asylum seekers is just, yet it cannot be carried out at the expense of the children—gravely and illegally violating their rights to education, equality, and dignity.
The petition emphasized, among other things, that the right to education and the authorities’ obligation to provide it, applies to every child living in Israel, regardless of their origin, skin color, or status in the country. This has been declared in pamphlets distributed by the Ministry of Education’s director general, and in several rulings on multiple occasions. Thus, the Municipality of Lod is obliged to equitably enroll all children of asylum seekers in the city in educational institutions.
As soon as the petition was filed, the Municipality rushed to enroll the children on behalf of whom the petition was filed. However, in the meantime, more unenrolled children have come forward, and we are attempting to find solutions for them as well.
Administrative Petition 63926-08-21
Attornies: Tal Hassin (ACRI), Haran Reichman (Clinic for Law and Educational Policy)
For further information (Hebrew)