Despite the allocation of a special budget for the construction of schools in the Arab areas of Jerusalem, only 77 new classrooms will be opened by the start of the new school year, while the shortage is estimated at 1,461 classrooms.
In August 2023, the government extended a five-year development program for Jerusalem’s Arab neighborhoods, which allocated NIS 800 million to narrow the education gap and eliminate the shortage of classrooms, Kan news service reported.
However, almost three years later, the pace of construction remains significantly lower than planned. The program provides for the creation of 1,200 new classrooms, but implementation is significantly behind schedule.
In recent years, the municipality has seized land and resettled residents to build schools, but project approval procedures and construction are progressing slowly.
An example is given of a school for children with special needs in Sheikh Jarrah. For the sake of its construction, a family and a greenhouse were evicted in 2022, but work has not yet begun. At the same time, the municipality is promoting the construction of a boys’ school on the premises of the UNRWA Vocational College in Kafr Aqaba, located across the separation barrier.
Ir Amim researcher Aviv Tatarsky said the municipality is “not addressing the severe shortage of classrooms that has existed for many years” but is using the need to build schools as a basis for confiscating Palestinian land, displacing families and now also taking action against UNRWA. According to him, instead of closing the college, where hundreds of students study, the municipality could have built an educational campus in Kafr Aqaba long ago.
The Jerusalem Municipality said that in recent years, 115 new educational institutions have been opened in East Jerusalem, including schools and kindergartens, located in both new and rented buildings.
According to the municipality, 1,200 new classrooms are planned to be built over the next five years, including two major projects – educational campuses in Shuafat and Kafr Aqaba.
Regarding the school for children with special needs in Sheikh Jarrah, the municipality said that after work began on the site, ancient burials were discovered, which required urgent archaeological excavations and the search for technical solutions in conjunction with the Directorate of Antiquities. Construction is expected to resume within three months, with the school opening in 2028.