The Israeli occupation’s municipality in Jerusalem is expected to forcibly implement the Israeli work and holiday schedule in all East Jerusalem schools soon, a senior Palestinian official has warned.

The Israeli regime’s Educational Department has ordered all Palestinian schools in the area to adhere to the Israeli work and holiday schedule and to abandon the Palestinian one from the beginning of the academic year.

“The Israelis have recognised that we will never voluntarily implement the Israeli work and holiday schedule under any circumstances,” said Zeyad Al Shamali, who heads the parents’ committee of schools supervised by the municipality and the Israeli Ministry of Education. “Israel seeks to place all the schools in occupied East Jerusalem under its tight control and to force them to implement the Israeli curriculum.”

Since occupying the eastern part of the holy city in 1967, the Israeli educational authorities have applied an alternating “carrot and stick” policy toward Palestinian schools. Tempting financial incentives and extra resources are offered to East Jerusalem schools to encourage them to switch from the Palestinian curriculum to the Israeli one. If that approach doesn’t work, Israel tirelessly pushes to forcefully impose the Israeli curriculum on East Jerusalem schools.

Israel recently allocated $20 million in financial aid to schools that switch to the Israeli curriculum, but the schools which insist on following the Palestinian programme are prevented from having any share in the annual budget.

In their final year of school, students can either sit for the Israeli Bagrut matriculation exam or the Palestinian Tawjihi one. Those who pass the Bagrut may enter Israeli universities directly and without any entrance requirements, but those who pass the Tawjihi exam must spend up to two years proving that they have the necessary Hebrew skills, and must then write a difficult admission exam.

The Israeli work and holiday schedule does not harmonise with the Palestinian Tawjihi system. The Israeli summer holiday starts on the 1st of June, but the Tawjihi exam only takes place in July. Palestinian students would therefore not be able to take their exams and their teachers would not be able to supervise them.

“Israel hopes to have at least 90 per cent of East Jerusalem schools switched to the Israeli curriculum by the end of the coming academic year,” said Al Shamali.

Despite this unprecedented Israeli pressure, to date less than 5 per cent of the Palestinian students in occupied East Jerusalem have switched to the Israeli curriculum.

Tough Israeli policies have forced many Jerusalemite students to enter private schools whose curriculums are neither Israeli nor Palestinian.

The Palestinian Education Ministry has categorically rejected the Israeli plan to introduce the Israeli work and holiday schedule.

“This is a fresh, politically motivated war being waged against the East Jerusalem schools and the Palestinian national curriculum with the aim of eradicating the Palestinian, Arab and Muslim identity of the entire city,” the Ministry announced in a statement. “We need the help of families, activists, supporters and other partners to expose Israeli policies which constitute a real threat to the educational process in occupied East Jerusalem.”

source: GULF NEWS