2018-10-15

Ramallah

West Bank

Denial of the Right to Education Contradicts the Obligations to Respect the Human Dignity of Children

His Excellency Attorney General, Dr. Ahmad Barrak,
The Head of the Complaints Department at the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Adv. Ahmad AlHundi, 
The Child Protection Mentor at the Ministry of Social Affairs,

Subject: Denial of the Right to Education Contradicts the Obligations to Respect the Human Dignity of Children

The Palestinian Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession –MUSAWA- extends its warmest greetings to your Excellency.

On 9 October 2018, MUSAWA received a written complaint from Adv. Dima Kalbani/ Jericho, as the agent of the citizen …/ resident in Ramallah, who stated that he registered his daughter …. (Four years old) in a private school called … in Al-Balou’ area/ Ramallah, and that he paid the whole semester tuition, but after two weeks into the academic year, the school expelled his daughter claiming that she uses profanity, picks her nose, and wipes her hands with her clothes, which she lifts before her peers.  

The complainant added that the school did not deal with the child, as they should have been, and it did not send her to a behavioral counselor, but instead, she was expelled in a humiliating manner, after what has been circulated between teachers that the child’s behavior is improper. The complaint also added that the teachers treated her in a humiliating way, which has adversely affected her psychological state.

The complainant noted that even though the child was expelled, the expenses and the school tuition he paid the school totaling 8739 NIS (Registration, school bus, school uniform, and other school tuitions), were not given back to him.  He also noted that expelling his daughter, after the start of the school year, and after the end of the registration period at schools, exposes his daughter to lose a compulsory school year, according to provisions governing the basic education, consenting the kindergarten as an integral part of it. The complainant also mentioned that his family circumstances do not enable them to provide a special care for their daughter, and cannot guarantee his child’s right to integrate into her generation’s peers, and her right to education.

In view of what has been said, MUSAWA believes that this complaint, if true, reflect a serious violation of the child’s right to compulsory education, which is guaranteed under the Basic Law in the first paragraph of article 24 that state “Every citizen shall have the right to education. It shall be compulsory until at least the end of the basic level. Education shall be free in public schools and institutions” bearing in mind that the period of registration for the new school year ended at the time the child was expelled from the school, which deprived her of registering in any other school, we also note that kindergarten is considered part of the educational system, as stated in the 6th article of 2017 decree-law on higher education “The education system consists of 1-Kindergarten, for a period of not more than two years before the stage of primary education”. The school administration could, and should have understood the child’s manner and to guide her according to the fundamental educational standards, instead of treating her in an unaccepted manner that ends with expelling her and depriving her of her right to education, in violation of the basic rights that are guaranteed under the basic law and the enforced legislation.

Thus, we call you to consider this memo carefully, and to take the necessary legal action in its regard, in a way that ensures the child’s return to the school, and to enjoy her right to education, and to compensate her family for the damages caused by this incident, hoping that you keep us updated with the taken actions by your side duly.   

Issued on 15/10/2018                                               Legal Monitoring Officer
Angham Mansour

Attachments: A copy of the complaint