School Segregation in Tel Aviv-Jaffa
- ACRI
- May 8
- 4 min read
On August 3, 2021, ACRI filed a petition with the Tel Aviv-Jaffa District Court on behalf of approximately 650 asylum seekers, children and their parents, and approximately 100 parents of students who are Israeli citizens, demanding an end to the unlawful segregation in the city’s educational institutions. The petition was also filed on behalf of ASSAF – Aid Organization for Refugees and Asylum Seekers, and the Levinsky Garden Library, through ACRI and the Clinic for Law and Education Policy at the University of Haifa Faculty of Law.
The petition stated that four of the city’s elementary schools and approximately 60 kindergartens serve only asylum-seeking children, most of them from Eritrea. This policy of segregating the asylum-seeking students in educational frameworks contradicts the law and court rulings, and violates the rights to equality, the right to an equal education, and the dignity of the children and their parents. Moreover, the school segregation that is taking place between asylum-seeking children, most of whom are Black, and children who are Israeli citizens, most of whom are white, cannot continue to exist in the democratic State of Israel nearly 70 years after the landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, whose principle that “separate is not equal” has also become embedded in Israeli law.
The municipality justifies the existence of this segregation by claiming that it acts in accordance with the registration regulations, which require students to be assigned to educational institutions near their homes. According to the municipality, which is supported by the Ministry of Education, because the asylum-seeking population is concentrated in the neighborhoods of South Tel Aviv, the segregation is the unfortunate result of the reality on the ground rather than unlawful segregation. But this claim is inconsistent with both the facts and the law. Asylum-seeking children are sent to designated educational institutions even when other schools attended by Israeli citizens are located closer to their homes; additionally, the registration regulations permit exceptions to the principle of proximity to one’s residence, including for reasons of educational policy.
The petition included affidavits from parents; expert opinions from specialists in education and pedagogy, cognitive psychology, pediatric neurology, and child development; as well as findings from studies conducted in Israel and around the world. All demonstrated the harm caused to asylum-seeking children as a result of their registration and placement in separate educational institutions and the need to place the children into integrated classrooms. The expert opinions and studies further showed that a thoughtful integration policy benefits the entire student population.
On July 26, 2022, the court rejected the petition. The court held that the municipality’s policy of assigning children to schools according to proximity to their place of residence was lawful, and that it had not been shown to operate based on improper motives. The court refrained from addressing the central question regarding the legality of separate educational institutions in light of the principle established in Supreme Court case law that separate is not equal.
We filed an appeal with the Supreme Court on November 20, 2022 arguing that in its determination that the registration for educational institutions was carried out lawfully, the District Court avoided addressing the discrimination claim raised in the petition. We asked the Supreme Court to prohibit the existence of separate educational frameworks and to order the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality to implement a placement and integration policy that would fulfill its legal obligation to provide quality and equal education to all children in the city, including transportation to integrated schools throughout the city.
In response to the appeal, the Ministry of Education and the municipality announced that they were preparing to conduct a pilot program under which asylum-seeking children entering first grade would be transported from South Tel Aviv to integrated schools in the center and north of the city. The pilot operated for three years and demonstrated significant positive effects: the asylum-seeking students made dramatic progress in improving learning abilities, narrowing gaps, mastering basic skills, and integrating into Israeli society and their classmates who were Israeli citizens also benefitted from being in more diverse classrooms. The results of the pilot illustrated that the thoughtful and supported integration of children from diverse populations, carried out through meaningful cooperation among educational staff, parents, and the entire school community, is the best policy for advancing equality and preventing exclusion in education.
Another hearing was held on September 16, 2025, following which the Supreme Court stated that: “It appears that there is consensus that the current situation, in which separate schools for asylum seekers operate in South Tel Aviv, is improper, and that a practical solution to the issue must be found.” Following an additional hearing on the appeal held in May 2026, the Court ordered the Ministry of Education and the municipality to submit a response brief to the appeal.
Administrative Petition 7240-08-21 Brown (Minor) v. Mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa; Administrative Appeal 7906/22 Brown (Minor) v. Mayor of Tel Aviv-Jaffa
Attorneys: Tal Hassin (Association for Civil Rights in Israel), Haran Reichman (Clinic for Law and Education Policy, University of Haifa)
For a full list of legal correspondence and articles written about this case (Heb), see here.
