5 sept 2013
The administration of Birzeit University has decided to dismiss 10 students affiliated to Fatah including a coordinator of the activities of Fatah-affiliated students in campus, a party spokesman said.
Ahmad Assaf highlighted in a statement Thursday that the decision was surprising and that the Fatah movement rejected it strongly.
“This is a dangerous move ignoring students’ demands and turning a blind eye to the dire conditions the Palestinian people face.”
Such decisions, he added, are like “death penalty” against those students whose only fault was that they mirrored their colleagues’ demands. “They were elected democratically to represent their colleagues.”
The student union at al-Najah National University in Nablus denounced the move.
“This decision lacks the minimum level of rationality and rejects the concept of dialogue,” said union chief Saad Judeh. He urged the administration to take back the decision and take the students’ demands seriously.
Ahmad Assaf highlighted in a statement Thursday that the decision was surprising and that the Fatah movement rejected it strongly.
“This is a dangerous move ignoring students’ demands and turning a blind eye to the dire conditions the Palestinian people face.”
Such decisions, he added, are like “death penalty” against those students whose only fault was that they mirrored their colleagues’ demands. “They were elected democratically to represent their colleagues.”
The student union at al-Najah National University in Nablus denounced the move.
“This decision lacks the minimum level of rationality and rejects the concept of dialogue,” said union chief Saad Judeh. He urged the administration to take back the decision and take the students’ demands seriously.
4 sept 2013
Heavy clashes broke out between Palestinians and Israeli forces in Abu Dis on Wednesday, a Fatah official said.
Anwar Bader said that Israeli border police raided the town at around 9 a.m. and entered the campus of Al-Quds university.
Israeli forces fired tear gas at students and employees, with dozens of people suffering smoke inhalation.
Bader condemned the raid, which he said was designed to deliberately provoke clashes, and called on human rights organizations to condemn Israel for its crimes against civilians.
Anwar Bader said that Israeli border police raided the town at around 9 a.m. and entered the campus of Al-Quds university.
Israeli forces fired tear gas at students and employees, with dozens of people suffering smoke inhalation.
Bader condemned the raid, which he said was designed to deliberately provoke clashes, and called on human rights organizations to condemn Israel for its crimes against civilians.
3 sept 2013
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Qurtuba Elementary School in Hebron is always under siege, as it is adjacent to the illegal Jewish settlement of Beit Hadassah in the center of the West Bank city.
The Ministry of Education in Hebron said that the school struggles and suffers from daily Israeli attacks and harassments. Teachers and students start their day by crossing the checkpoint of Shuhada Street and being searched by metal detectors before Israeli soldiers allow them to pass to the school. The soldiers also insist on searching all school supplies, including books, writing utensils and even cleaning liquids. Additionally, settlers from the nearby settlement often attack the school, assault and harass the students by throwing stones and fluids at them, and curse at the students walking on their way to and from school. |
2 sept 2013
Kindergartens in Beersheba were closed for the third day on Monday due to a staff strike over salaries.
Staff are demanding a pay rise and protesting the municipality's dismissal of a kindergarten teacher, a Ma'an reporter said.
The municipality says the teacher posed a danger to students, the reporter said.
Beersheba mayor Ruvik Danilovich stood by the municipality's decision and said striking teachers would not receive pay rises.
"The strike is chaotic and the municipality will not hesitate to fire anyone who might be considered a danger to our children," the mayor wrote. "We will not raise the salary of any teacher who is on strike."
Staff are demanding a pay rise and protesting the municipality's dismissal of a kindergarten teacher, a Ma'an reporter said.
The municipality says the teacher posed a danger to students, the reporter said.
Beersheba mayor Ruvik Danilovich stood by the municipality's decision and said striking teachers would not receive pay rises.
"The strike is chaotic and the municipality will not hesitate to fire anyone who might be considered a danger to our children," the mayor wrote. "We will not raise the salary of any teacher who is on strike."
A report published Monday by an Israeli rights group reveals "deep gaps" in the education system for Palestinians and Israelis in Jerusalem.
The report published by Ir Amim and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel found that there is a severe shortage of classrooms in East Jerusalem, a higher dropout rate and "tremendous disparities" in the allocation of professional positions between the two educational systems.
"The enormous shortage in classrooms, budgets, personnel and educational programming constitutes a serious violation of the right to education of tens of thousands of Palestinian schoolchildren in Jerusalem," director of ACRI's East Jerusalem Project Ronit Sela said.
Israel's ministry of education budgeted around 12,000 shekels ($3,335) per student for Palestinian high schools, whereas an average of 25,500 shekels ($7,087) was budgeted for Jewish national-religious state schools and 24,500 shekels ($6,809) for secular Jewish schools.
A high dropout rate in East Jerusalem means that 36 percent of Palestinian children do not complete a full 12 years of education, and schools in East Jerusalem suffer from a severe shortage in dropout prevention programs, the report says.
In 2011, the dropout rate in Jewish secondary schools in West Jerusalem was one percent whereas the total dropout rate across all ages in Palestinian schools was 13 percent.
The disparities are even greater in the case of school counselors, whose role is critical in providing psychological support and preventing dropout.
Only 29 school counselors operate in East Jerusalem compared to some 250 counselors in West Jerusalem, the report said.
There is also a severe shortage of classrooms in East Jerusalem schools, totaling more than 2,300, which the Jerusalem municipality blames on a scarcity of land in East Jerusalem.
The report states, however, that Israel's planning policy in East Jerusalem is "harnessed to discriminatory demographic goals—the primary explanation for the existing shortage of classrooms in East Jerusalem."
"Deep disparities in the educational system are not accidental but rather the product of policy making that finds expression in lack of funding, resources and efforts to ameliorate the current situation," the report concluded.
Oshrat Maimon, policy advocacy director at Ir Amim, said that the candidates for mayor in October municipal elections are devoting their energy to satisfying the demands of the Israeli nationalist right in Jerusalem.
"Life in Jerusalem cannot continue to operate as business as usual: while parents in West Jerusalem are excited about their children's first day in school, a few meters away parents in East Jerusalem don't know if there will even be a place in school for their children.
"This gap, which continues to increase every year, requires an urgent response from elected officials in both the Municipality and the government. It requires a paradigm shift in priorities and those who adhere to democratic values must see to it that it is done."
Over 84 percent of Palestinian children live below the poverty line and there has been a 10 percent increase in overall poverty rates since 2006.
Israel has occupied East Jerusalem since 1967 and formally annexed the area in 1980 after passing the 'Jerusalem Law'.
The report published by Ir Amim and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel found that there is a severe shortage of classrooms in East Jerusalem, a higher dropout rate and "tremendous disparities" in the allocation of professional positions between the two educational systems.
"The enormous shortage in classrooms, budgets, personnel and educational programming constitutes a serious violation of the right to education of tens of thousands of Palestinian schoolchildren in Jerusalem," director of ACRI's East Jerusalem Project Ronit Sela said.
Israel's ministry of education budgeted around 12,000 shekels ($3,335) per student for Palestinian high schools, whereas an average of 25,500 shekels ($7,087) was budgeted for Jewish national-religious state schools and 24,500 shekels ($6,809) for secular Jewish schools.
A high dropout rate in East Jerusalem means that 36 percent of Palestinian children do not complete a full 12 years of education, and schools in East Jerusalem suffer from a severe shortage in dropout prevention programs, the report says.
In 2011, the dropout rate in Jewish secondary schools in West Jerusalem was one percent whereas the total dropout rate across all ages in Palestinian schools was 13 percent.
The disparities are even greater in the case of school counselors, whose role is critical in providing psychological support and preventing dropout.
Only 29 school counselors operate in East Jerusalem compared to some 250 counselors in West Jerusalem, the report said.
There is also a severe shortage of classrooms in East Jerusalem schools, totaling more than 2,300, which the Jerusalem municipality blames on a scarcity of land in East Jerusalem.
The report states, however, that Israel's planning policy in East Jerusalem is "harnessed to discriminatory demographic goals—the primary explanation for the existing shortage of classrooms in East Jerusalem."
"Deep disparities in the educational system are not accidental but rather the product of policy making that finds expression in lack of funding, resources and efforts to ameliorate the current situation," the report concluded.
Oshrat Maimon, policy advocacy director at Ir Amim, said that the candidates for mayor in October municipal elections are devoting their energy to satisfying the demands of the Israeli nationalist right in Jerusalem.
"Life in Jerusalem cannot continue to operate as business as usual: while parents in West Jerusalem are excited about their children's first day in school, a few meters away parents in East Jerusalem don't know if there will even be a place in school for their children.
"This gap, which continues to increase every year, requires an urgent response from elected officials in both the Municipality and the government. It requires a paradigm shift in priorities and those who adhere to democratic values must see to it that it is done."
Over 84 percent of Palestinian children live below the poverty line and there has been a 10 percent increase in overall poverty rates since 2006.
Israel has occupied East Jerusalem since 1967 and formally annexed the area in 1980 after passing the 'Jerusalem Law'.
30 aug 2013
PLO Executive Committee Member and Chief Palestinian Negotiator Dr. Saeb Erekat condemned in a press statement issued by PLO Negotiations Affairs Department Friday, the Israeli attempt to impose its own educational system on Palestinian schools in Palestine's Capital, East Jerusalem:
"Israel has been trying to change the status quo of Jerusalem since its occupation in 1967. In addition to policies of settlement construction and forced displacement, Israel has tried, on several occasions, to impose its own educational curriculum on Palestinian schools."
"This act, like many others, is a blatant violation of international humanitarian and human rights law. By imposing its educational curriculum on schools in Occupied East Jerusalem, Israel shows that it has no intention of ending its 46-year old occupation, but rather seeks to consolidate the illegal annexation of Palestinian land," stressed Erekat.
Erekat added, "For the past few years, increasing pressure has been applied on various Palestinian schools in the city, including Christian and Muslim schools and other private institutions, in order to change the educational curriculum. Incentives such as raising salaries and subsidies for schools that adopt the Israeli system were presented with limited success and acceptance. However, this new academic year 2013 – 2014 will witness five important Palestinian schools in Occupied East Jerusalem teaching the Israeli educational curriculum for some of their classes. The schools are Sur Baher Boys School, Sur Baher Girls School, Ibn Khaldoun School, Ibn Rashid School and Abdullah Bin Al Hussein School."
"We consider this Israeli step an attempt to rewrite our history and undermine our national identity. We support the actions that are being taken by our student organizations, civil society organizations, parent's unions and teachers in order to prevent this abhorrent situation from being realized, including their call for peaceful demonstrations," concluded Erekat.
Some of the material that the Israeli curriculum for Palestinian children will include is:
· Maps showing the Occupied State of Palestine, excluding Gaza, as part of the State of Israel. Hebrew Biblical names are used for Palestinian cities (i.e Shkhem rather than Nablus) in order to justify Israel's occupation.
· References to Jerusalem as Israel's capital, although this is not recognized by any country, particularly not by Palestine.
· The Israeli Annexation Wall described as a "security fence."
· Despite severe violations to Palestinian rights in the city, students will be taught that Israel is a "bastion of human rights and democracy."
· In one section of the book, a conversation between Arab students praising an alleged development supposedly brought by Israel to Palestinian cities. The students conclude by singing the Israeli National anthem in gratitude for all Israel has done for them.
· Important Palestinian commemorations such as Al Nakba, Independence Day, President Yasser Arafat's death or the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People are not included in the textbooks.
It's worth mentioning that currently there are around 110,000 Palestinian children living in Occupied East Jerusalem. 84% of the Palestinian children in the city live in poverty.
According to the statement, there are 139 kindergartens and 207 schools in Occupied East Jerusalem. Among the 83 private schools, 40 belong to the Islamic Waqf, 18 are private schools, 17 are Christian schools (including Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Armenian and Coptic) and 8 belong to UNRWA, providing education to Palestinian refugees. The Israeli Occupation Municipality has 54 municipal schools and works with another 70 other schools that are recognized by the Israeli Ministry of Education.
Currently there is a shortage of 1100 classrooms for Palestinian students in Occupied East Jerusalem, including classrooms that have to be repaired and no less than 400 new classrooms needed. Only last week, Israel ordered the partial demolition of a Palestinian Elementary School in Khan al Ahmar, within the Jerusalem Governorate. Needless to say, Israel continues to build settlements in Occupied East Jerusalem, including schools for Jewish settlers, radical Jewish religious schools and a planned Military Academy at Mount of Olives, the statement added.
"Israel has been trying to change the status quo of Jerusalem since its occupation in 1967. In addition to policies of settlement construction and forced displacement, Israel has tried, on several occasions, to impose its own educational curriculum on Palestinian schools."
"This act, like many others, is a blatant violation of international humanitarian and human rights law. By imposing its educational curriculum on schools in Occupied East Jerusalem, Israel shows that it has no intention of ending its 46-year old occupation, but rather seeks to consolidate the illegal annexation of Palestinian land," stressed Erekat.
Erekat added, "For the past few years, increasing pressure has been applied on various Palestinian schools in the city, including Christian and Muslim schools and other private institutions, in order to change the educational curriculum. Incentives such as raising salaries and subsidies for schools that adopt the Israeli system were presented with limited success and acceptance. However, this new academic year 2013 – 2014 will witness five important Palestinian schools in Occupied East Jerusalem teaching the Israeli educational curriculum for some of their classes. The schools are Sur Baher Boys School, Sur Baher Girls School, Ibn Khaldoun School, Ibn Rashid School and Abdullah Bin Al Hussein School."
"We consider this Israeli step an attempt to rewrite our history and undermine our national identity. We support the actions that are being taken by our student organizations, civil society organizations, parent's unions and teachers in order to prevent this abhorrent situation from being realized, including their call for peaceful demonstrations," concluded Erekat.
Some of the material that the Israeli curriculum for Palestinian children will include is:
· Maps showing the Occupied State of Palestine, excluding Gaza, as part of the State of Israel. Hebrew Biblical names are used for Palestinian cities (i.e Shkhem rather than Nablus) in order to justify Israel's occupation.
· References to Jerusalem as Israel's capital, although this is not recognized by any country, particularly not by Palestine.
· The Israeli Annexation Wall described as a "security fence."
· Despite severe violations to Palestinian rights in the city, students will be taught that Israel is a "bastion of human rights and democracy."
· In one section of the book, a conversation between Arab students praising an alleged development supposedly brought by Israel to Palestinian cities. The students conclude by singing the Israeli National anthem in gratitude for all Israel has done for them.
· Important Palestinian commemorations such as Al Nakba, Independence Day, President Yasser Arafat's death or the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People are not included in the textbooks.
It's worth mentioning that currently there are around 110,000 Palestinian children living in Occupied East Jerusalem. 84% of the Palestinian children in the city live in poverty.
According to the statement, there are 139 kindergartens and 207 schools in Occupied East Jerusalem. Among the 83 private schools, 40 belong to the Islamic Waqf, 18 are private schools, 17 are Christian schools (including Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Armenian and Coptic) and 8 belong to UNRWA, providing education to Palestinian refugees. The Israeli Occupation Municipality has 54 municipal schools and works with another 70 other schools that are recognized by the Israeli Ministry of Education.
Currently there is a shortage of 1100 classrooms for Palestinian students in Occupied East Jerusalem, including classrooms that have to be repaired and no less than 400 new classrooms needed. Only last week, Israel ordered the partial demolition of a Palestinian Elementary School in Khan al Ahmar, within the Jerusalem Governorate. Needless to say, Israel continues to build settlements in Occupied East Jerusalem, including schools for Jewish settlers, radical Jewish religious schools and a planned Military Academy at Mount of Olives, the statement added.
29 aug 2013
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Students of the sixth grade from Silwan Elementary School gathered on Wednesday in front of the school and the municipality to protest against the closure of their classroom and leaving them without an educational framework.
Participants held signs that said “our right in education is the same as our right in living and we do not have room in the school.” Mohammad Adib, one of the parents, explained that they held a meeting on Wednesday with officials in the municipality who refused to reopen the 6th grade, under the pretext of lack of capabilities to do so. |
He added that 60 students from the school’s students don’t have room and the municipality claims that it opened new 1st elementary classrooms instead of the 6th grade.
The 11-year old student Mahmoud Jaber said: “on the first day of school, I headed to school but the administration refused to let me in under the pretext of opening new classrooms for 1st elementary.” He also said: “I have the right to learn just like any other child; we don’t want to stay in the streets.”
He added: “the administration told us to go to other schools in Al-Thori and Ras Al-Amoud without providing transportation for us. Every day we hear about arrests, and the Musta’ribin (undercover) unit that raids schools and kidnaps children.”
The 11-year old student Mahmoud Jaber said: “on the first day of school, I headed to school but the administration refused to let me in under the pretext of opening new classrooms for 1st elementary.” He also said: “I have the right to learn just like any other child; we don’t want to stay in the streets.”
He added: “the administration told us to go to other schools in Al-Thori and Ras Al-Amoud without providing transportation for us. Every day we hear about arrests, and the Musta’ribin (undercover) unit that raids schools and kidnaps children.”
28 aug 2013
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classroom materials
The director of education in Jerusalem has urged families with schoolchildren in Jerusalem to be aware that at least five Palestinian schools are switching to Israeli education materials. Sameer Jibril said the Ebin Rushd and Abdulla bin Hussain schools were using Israeli education materials in the seventh and eighth grades. The Sour Baher school is using them for fourth, fifth and sixth grades, and the Ibin Khaldoun school uses it for seventh graders. An education official told Ma’an that a meeting took place on Thursday in Herzliya near Tel Aviv for Palestinian and Israeli principals and teachers to discuss switching from Palestinian Authority to Israeli curricula. |
The Israeli municipality in Jerusalem offered to increase salaries for teachers and principals who agree to implement the plans in their schools, the official said. The proposal would add about 2,000 shekels (about $550) per student enrolled in schools using Israeli curricula.
A teacher who identified himself as Jibril told Ma'an that using Israeli curricula was a "violation" of Palestinian culture and history.
"This step is very dangerous and touches the awareness of Palestinians in Jerusalem in an effort to brainwash them and control them, especially young generations.”
Among the concerns Palestinian teachers have about the materials are maps purporting to depict the state of Israel which include the West Bank and identify Palestinian territory by Jewish Biblical names.
It also includes history lessons about the destruction of a Jewish temple in Jerusalem, which the texts separately identify as the capital of Israel despite an international consensus that the city is occupied.
Another section depicts a conversation between three Arab students who praise Israel's development of Palestinian cities and decide to sing the Israeli national anthem.
Other points of concern include a photograph of the separation wall along with a caption identifying it as Israel's "security fence," and another referring to Israel as a bastion of human rights and democracy. More pictures
A teacher who identified himself as Jibril told Ma'an that using Israeli curricula was a "violation" of Palestinian culture and history.
"This step is very dangerous and touches the awareness of Palestinians in Jerusalem in an effort to brainwash them and control them, especially young generations.”
Among the concerns Palestinian teachers have about the materials are maps purporting to depict the state of Israel which include the West Bank and identify Palestinian territory by Jewish Biblical names.
It also includes history lessons about the destruction of a Jewish temple in Jerusalem, which the texts separately identify as the capital of Israel despite an international consensus that the city is occupied.
Another section depicts a conversation between three Arab students who praise Israel's development of Palestinian cities and decide to sing the Israeli national anthem.
Other points of concern include a photograph of the separation wall along with a caption identifying it as Israel's "security fence," and another referring to Israel as a bastion of human rights and democracy. More pictures
27 aug 2013
Sixth grade students in Bi’er Ayoub Elementary School in the village of Silwan were surprised on the first day of the school-year when the occupation’s municipality closed down their classroom because of lack of classrooms.
Parents of students said that their children headed to school on the first day of the school-year, but they were left in the streets after the school refused to let them in, under the pretext of lack of classrooms, knowing that they have been in the same school since first elementary. They also said that the number of students that were denied entrance was 40 students.
Fares Alkhales, head of parents union committee for schools in Silwan, explained that the village of Silwan is part of the city of Jerusalem and suffers from a severe shortage of classrooms because of the municipality’s failure to develop strategic plans to commensurate with the natural increase of population growth.
He explained that the occupations’ municipality claims that it closed one of the 6th grade classrooms in order to have room to register first elementary students.
Parents of students said that their children headed to school on the first day of the school-year, but they were left in the streets after the school refused to let them in, under the pretext of lack of classrooms, knowing that they have been in the same school since first elementary. They also said that the number of students that were denied entrance was 40 students.
Fares Alkhales, head of parents union committee for schools in Silwan, explained that the village of Silwan is part of the city of Jerusalem and suffers from a severe shortage of classrooms because of the municipality’s failure to develop strategic plans to commensurate with the natural increase of population growth.
He explained that the occupations’ municipality claims that it closed one of the 6th grade classrooms in order to have room to register first elementary students.
26 aug 2013
Israeli municipality in Jerusalem decided on Sunday evening to demolish a floor in Shorfat primary school to the southern-west Jerusalem. Director of the Jerusalem Education Bureau Samir Jibril said," the municipality delivered the school the demolish order after issuing an administrative decision for that."
He indicated that the floor was built in 2000 to accommodate a large number of students. It included three classrooms for 60 students and a headmaster room.
"The Israeli forces issued the demolish decision years ago, while the school has appointed a lawyer in an attempt to stop the decision," he added.
He indicated that the floor was built in 2000 to accommodate a large number of students. It included three classrooms for 60 students and a headmaster room.
"The Israeli forces issued the demolish decision years ago, while the school has appointed a lawyer in an attempt to stop the decision," he added.
Head of Directorate of Education in Jerusalem Samir Jibril warned of Israel's attempts to manipulate the Palestinian curriculum.
Jibril said in a press statement that "we wish our Palestinian students in Jerusalem an academic year full of hard work and success, and we hope that every student could find a seat to study in light of the acute shortage of classrooms due to occupation policies aimed at undermining education in the holy city,"
Jibril's comments came after a tour of New Generation School opened this year in Beit Hanina neighborhood to accommodate more students from Jerusalem, among other schools in the city.
He explained that the occupation authorities neither serve Palestinian citizens Jerusalem with permits to build new schools, nor offer education services to the Palestinians under occupation in Jerusalem.
Jibril strongly denounced that 5 schools in Jerusalem started to teach Israeli curriculum in some classes, calling on Palestinian families not to be dragged behind the illusions that schools that apply the Israeli curriculum are more offer sophisticated service or pave the way for a prosperous future for their children.
He pointed out that these schools have a grave impact on the students' sense of national belonging and identity, stressing that the recourse to the Israeli curriculum is contrary to all international laws that give the people under occupation the right to keep to their cultural links and educational systems.
This article was originally posted on Alray Media Agency.
Jibril said in a press statement that "we wish our Palestinian students in Jerusalem an academic year full of hard work and success, and we hope that every student could find a seat to study in light of the acute shortage of classrooms due to occupation policies aimed at undermining education in the holy city,"
Jibril's comments came after a tour of New Generation School opened this year in Beit Hanina neighborhood to accommodate more students from Jerusalem, among other schools in the city.
He explained that the occupation authorities neither serve Palestinian citizens Jerusalem with permits to build new schools, nor offer education services to the Palestinians under occupation in Jerusalem.
Jibril strongly denounced that 5 schools in Jerusalem started to teach Israeli curriculum in some classes, calling on Palestinian families not to be dragged behind the illusions that schools that apply the Israeli curriculum are more offer sophisticated service or pave the way for a prosperous future for their children.
He pointed out that these schools have a grave impact on the students' sense of national belonging and identity, stressing that the recourse to the Israeli curriculum is contrary to all international laws that give the people under occupation the right to keep to their cultural links and educational systems.
This article was originally posted on Alray Media Agency.
25 aug 2013
Caretaker Palestinian Authority prime minister Rami Hamdallah said Sunday that the PA is dedicated to finalizing an agreement with teachers after months of strike action.
"I can't pledge things which are impossible to fulfill, but we have followed a policy of transparency so as to be able together to go through these hardships and continue to build our institutions," Hamdallah said during the inauguration of a new school in Nablus.
The PA will take practical steps to reaching an agreement with public school teachers in the West Bank, he added.
Last week, the teachers' union said it would consider more strike action if the PA did not fulfill its promises by September.
The teachers' union organized regular strike action in the first half of 2013 to protest unpaid salaries.
The PA finance minister said recently that a shortfall in Arab donor aid would likely lead to delays in paying public sector salaries, above all for teachers.
"I can't pledge things which are impossible to fulfill, but we have followed a policy of transparency so as to be able together to go through these hardships and continue to build our institutions," Hamdallah said during the inauguration of a new school in Nablus.
The PA will take practical steps to reaching an agreement with public school teachers in the West Bank, he added.
Last week, the teachers' union said it would consider more strike action if the PA did not fulfill its promises by September.
The teachers' union organized regular strike action in the first half of 2013 to protest unpaid salaries.
The PA finance minister said recently that a shortfall in Arab donor aid would likely lead to delays in paying public sector salaries, above all for teachers.
19 aug 2013
All Palestinian universities are facing a crippling financial crisis and some have not been able to pay salaries regularly over the past two years, a union leader said Monday.
Amjad Barham, who heads a union of university professors and staff, told Ma’an that most Palestinian universities have accumulated unpaid salaries and other expenses. Thus, he added, universities will not be able to afford the basic preparations to provide a decent education if the situation remains unchanged.
He highlighted that the crippling financial crisis was a result of failure by consecutive Palestinian governments to pay even a minimum of the financial aid they were supposed to provide to universities. Governments, he said, pledged certain sums of aid in the past two years, but only 10 percent of that pledged aid was delivered. As for 2013, only 5 percent of the financial support to universities approved by the government has been delivered.
According to Barham, universities will not be able to fulfill their essential role in providing a decent education to Palestinian students if financial difficulties are not resolved.
Amjad Barham, who heads a union of university professors and staff, told Ma’an that most Palestinian universities have accumulated unpaid salaries and other expenses. Thus, he added, universities will not be able to afford the basic preparations to provide a decent education if the situation remains unchanged.
He highlighted that the crippling financial crisis was a result of failure by consecutive Palestinian governments to pay even a minimum of the financial aid they were supposed to provide to universities. Governments, he said, pledged certain sums of aid in the past two years, but only 10 percent of that pledged aid was delivered. As for 2013, only 5 percent of the financial support to universities approved by the government has been delivered.
According to Barham, universities will not be able to fulfill their essential role in providing a decent education to Palestinian students if financial difficulties are not resolved.
26 july 2013
A teenager in Gaza tried to overdose on Thursday after failing her high school exams, medics said Friday.
The 18-year-old, from al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, was taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where medics were able to stabilize her.
She took large doses of medication after learning she had failed the Tawjihi exams, the Palestinian high school qualification needed to go to university.
The Ministry of Education published the Tawjihi results on Thursday.
Two students committed suicide on Thursday after learning they had failed.
Nisrin Jumaa, 18, hanged herself in her family home in Tulkarem in the northern West Bank.
Muhammad Zaqut shot himself in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza.
Meanwhile, a teenage girl in Beit Hanoun suffered pelvic and foot fractures after throwing herself from the second floor of a building after learning she had failed the Tawjihi.
The 18-year-old, from al-Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, was taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where medics were able to stabilize her.
She took large doses of medication after learning she had failed the Tawjihi exams, the Palestinian high school qualification needed to go to university.
The Ministry of Education published the Tawjihi results on Thursday.
Two students committed suicide on Thursday after learning they had failed.
Nisrin Jumaa, 18, hanged herself in her family home in Tulkarem in the northern West Bank.
Muhammad Zaqut shot himself in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza.
Meanwhile, a teenage girl in Beit Hanoun suffered pelvic and foot fractures after throwing herself from the second floor of a building after learning she had failed the Tawjihi.
25 july 2013
A teenager threw herself from the second floor of a building in Gaza on Thursday after failing her high school exams, the Health Ministry said.
The teenager, from Beit Hanoun, suffered pelvic and foot fractures and was transferred to the Kamal Odwan hospital, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said.
The results of the Tawjihi, the final high school exams, were released on Thursday. The high school qualification is required for admission to universities.
Another student was injured Thursday in gunfire fired to celebrate Tawjihi results.
The student, from Jabaliya, was hit in the stomach by a stray bullet from the celebratory gunfire, the ministry spokesman said.
The teenager, from Beit Hanoun, suffered pelvic and foot fractures and was transferred to the Kamal Odwan hospital, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said.
The results of the Tawjihi, the final high school exams, were released on Thursday. The high school qualification is required for admission to universities.
Another student was injured Thursday in gunfire fired to celebrate Tawjihi results.
The student, from Jabaliya, was hit in the stomach by a stray bullet from the celebratory gunfire, the ministry spokesman said.
15 july 2013
A Palestinian woman stands among right-wing Israeli protesters at Tel Aviv University.
By Towibah Mjdoob
Towibah Mjdoob is researching how some Palestinians live within entirely Jewish surroundings, how the conflict between the two nations comes into play in their day-to-day lives. But very quickly, Mjdoob realizes that she has become the subject of her own research.
A nearby voice says to me: “Good morning Hagit.” I had just locked the door to my apartment and was heading out for a long day at the university. I turn around to see who, aside from myself, was in the garden. I didn’t see anybody. It was just me and the landlord’s mother standing there. She looks at me and repeats, “Hagit, do you want some Arabic coffee?”
I oblige and correct her, “my name is Towibah, not Hagit.” The landlord’s mother pours a cup of coffee into a special mug, hands it to me and ignores my name. “This mango tree, we should have trimmed it in the beginning of the spring. It needs a special spray. I need to ask one of the Arab gardeners who come to the neighbors and ask about that spray.” I am reminded of my father and his mango tree. The words “one of the Arabs” prevent me from giving advice regarding the landlord’s mother’s tree.
I lived 15 minutes away from Bar-Ilan University, but I was always the last to arrive in class. Something within me caused me to be late, and when I arrived, I would always sit at the end of the last row. My chronic tardiness and choice to sit on the side were not my regular behavioral patterns. But even in my favorite class, which dealt with stereotypes and prejudices, I would arrive late. This time, however, there was no room left on the side or in the last row, so I was forced to take one of the two empty seats in the middle of the class.
How are stereotypes formed? How can we get rid of them? How do we prevent ourselves from thinking in a stereotypical manner? The lecturer divided the board into columns: Ashkenazim, Mizrahim, Druze, Russians, Arabs, Bedouin and a few others. Some of the columns were divided into subgroups: Yemenites, Iraqis, etc. The class was asked to list all the stereotypes of each group. I didn’t agree with the division between Druze, Arabs and Bedouin, but I decided not to bring it up during class.
The students, who were getting their master’s degree in social psychology, began listing all the stereotypes. Most of the ones they named weren’t negative, except when it came to Arabs. “Murderers,” “terrorists,” “sexually deviant,” “oppress women,” “they all wear veils,” “not intelligent.” At times you could even hear people laughing. No one even dared to think that a Palestinian student was sitting in the middle of the class. Only the lecturer knew. With every stereotype that was shouted out she looked at me apologetically, which didn’t make me feel any better. “We need to deal with the subject of Arab stereotypes in Israeli society, since it is related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” she said. I could not continue to take part in this lesson. I went outside. I was the only Palestinian in the entire department that year.
***
In the apartment, the landlord’s mother is sitting on the balcony, smoking a cigarette and listening to the music of Nazem El Ghazali, one of my and the landlord’s mother’s favorite Iraqi singers. During my three years of studies, I heard him, through her, in the morning and early evening hours. For three years, the landlord’s mother refused to believe that I was Arab, and chose to treat me as if I were a Jew named Hagit. “Hagit, you should join us for Passover… it’s too bad that you didn’t go back to your family for the holiday!” “Hagit, may you be written in the book of life!” (a common Jewish saying during the High Holidays), “happy Independence Day to you and the people of Israel!” “Hagit, where did you learn Arabic?”
“This is the hundredth time I’ve explained to her that I am not Hagit!” I tell her son. “She doesn’t know that I’m Palestinian? Why doesn’t she want to believe that I am an Arab?!” The son smiles. “I never actually told her. In my eyes, it doesn’t matter which group you belong to. The only thing that matters is that you are a human being. I wish all the Jews and Arabs could be like you!”
***
For my master’s thesis, I decided to research how Palestinians live within entirely Jewish surroundings. How do the cultural and national differences, as well as the conflict between the two nations come into play in these individuals’ day-to-day lives? What happens to their identity vis-a-vis the Jewish majority? How do they present themselves? Do they emphasize their Arabness or do they play it down? How do they identify? Which aspects of their identity do they choose to emphasize? How do they respond to discrimination? To stereotypes? Do they allow themselves to relate to our history as Palestinians in Israel, or do they ignore it completely in order to be part of Israeli society?
Most of these questions are taken for granted by the Arab minority while the Jewish majority is not even conscious of them. One interviewee, a 26-year-old who works for a Zionist research institute, told me: “I am totally unsure when it comes to definitions. The only thing I know for sure is that I am Arab and nothing more. I am not Jewish, not Israeli and not Palestinian.
“I am Israeli and there is no escaping it. But do I feel like I belong? Not at all!” said a Palestinian hi-tech worker. “Today, even the ability to hold onto this illusion no longer exists.”
I interviewed Palestinian professionals (men and women, Muslims and Christians, of different ages) who work in Jewish organizations and live in either Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. I learned that the choice – if it is indeed a choice – to work for a Jewish organization comes at a price for the Arab professional. This is expressed by silence and silencing, a perpetual refrain from sharing political positions or open criticism, lack of legitimacy to express protest, self-censorship and experiencing frustration and hopelessness of lack of control and an ability to change the present situation.
The situations and responses varied: female Palestinian professionals tended to respond to racism, whether immediately or some time after a specific incident. They believed that with attention and a proper explanation, they could change their surroundings. The men, however, receded in the face of racism, either through denial or by ignoring the racism.
Furthermore, the women emphasized their Palestinian and gender identity. “First of all, I am a woman,” was a common response. Some of them were under pressure from family members to return from the Jewish city to their home in the periphery, where they grew up. These women’s struggle is two-fold: with the men in their families (fathers, brothers), and with the Jewish surroundings in which they work.
Each of the women I interviewed, without exception, has been told “wow, you don’t look like an Arab,” a phrase which carries with it a world of prejudice and stereotypes. “I don’t understand what they expect, that I come to work with a tent and a camel?” asked one of the interviewees, who is the sole Arab woman in a Jewish organization. Many interviewees either asked me to turn off the tape recorder or not include the specific racist incidents they experienced while working for the organizations.
Arab service workers, be they hospital nurses, speech therapists or lawyers, reported many cases in which those receiving their services cast doubt on the workers’ professionalism or refused to be served by them. The specific cases in which they were able to change the minds of Jews filled the workers with pride, although the recurring experience of rejection wore them out and even caused them to want to quit their jobs. “Sometimes, the university brings us donors from outside Israel and invites me to sit and speak with them about the situation of Arabs in Israel,” said one of the male interviewees who lectures at a large university. “I feel like I am the property of the university.”
Despite it all, many Arab professionals choose to work in Jewish organizations for economic reasons, and for lack of alternatives. Their professional lives are accompanied by a personal, continuous reflex. In conversations they have among themselves, they examine their identities and feelings: ambivalence, reduction of visibility, frustration and distancing themselves from other Palestinian colleagues. And here is an interesting finding: Palestinians working in NGOs for social change experienced more discrimination and growing frustration than those who worked in the private sector.
***
When I waited for my family to arrive from the North for my graduation ceremony, the interviewees that I had met suddenly became mixed up with my own three years at Bar-Ilan, leaving me to wonder how I survived. I spoke with one of the students that sat next to me – whose name happened to be Hagit – happy and excited to be finishing my studies. At the end of the ceremony, the national anthem was played. “A Jewish soul still yearns,” Hagit sang, while my brother and I remained silent, unable to sing words that weren’t written about us.
Towibah Mjdoob is a Community Organizer at Kayan, a feminist organization for the advancement of Palestinian Women in Israel. She has recently submitted her thesis at Bar-Ilan University.
By Towibah Mjdoob
Towibah Mjdoob is researching how some Palestinians live within entirely Jewish surroundings, how the conflict between the two nations comes into play in their day-to-day lives. But very quickly, Mjdoob realizes that she has become the subject of her own research.
A nearby voice says to me: “Good morning Hagit.” I had just locked the door to my apartment and was heading out for a long day at the university. I turn around to see who, aside from myself, was in the garden. I didn’t see anybody. It was just me and the landlord’s mother standing there. She looks at me and repeats, “Hagit, do you want some Arabic coffee?”
I oblige and correct her, “my name is Towibah, not Hagit.” The landlord’s mother pours a cup of coffee into a special mug, hands it to me and ignores my name. “This mango tree, we should have trimmed it in the beginning of the spring. It needs a special spray. I need to ask one of the Arab gardeners who come to the neighbors and ask about that spray.” I am reminded of my father and his mango tree. The words “one of the Arabs” prevent me from giving advice regarding the landlord’s mother’s tree.
I lived 15 minutes away from Bar-Ilan University, but I was always the last to arrive in class. Something within me caused me to be late, and when I arrived, I would always sit at the end of the last row. My chronic tardiness and choice to sit on the side were not my regular behavioral patterns. But even in my favorite class, which dealt with stereotypes and prejudices, I would arrive late. This time, however, there was no room left on the side or in the last row, so I was forced to take one of the two empty seats in the middle of the class.
How are stereotypes formed? How can we get rid of them? How do we prevent ourselves from thinking in a stereotypical manner? The lecturer divided the board into columns: Ashkenazim, Mizrahim, Druze, Russians, Arabs, Bedouin and a few others. Some of the columns were divided into subgroups: Yemenites, Iraqis, etc. The class was asked to list all the stereotypes of each group. I didn’t agree with the division between Druze, Arabs and Bedouin, but I decided not to bring it up during class.
The students, who were getting their master’s degree in social psychology, began listing all the stereotypes. Most of the ones they named weren’t negative, except when it came to Arabs. “Murderers,” “terrorists,” “sexually deviant,” “oppress women,” “they all wear veils,” “not intelligent.” At times you could even hear people laughing. No one even dared to think that a Palestinian student was sitting in the middle of the class. Only the lecturer knew. With every stereotype that was shouted out she looked at me apologetically, which didn’t make me feel any better. “We need to deal with the subject of Arab stereotypes in Israeli society, since it is related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” she said. I could not continue to take part in this lesson. I went outside. I was the only Palestinian in the entire department that year.
***
In the apartment, the landlord’s mother is sitting on the balcony, smoking a cigarette and listening to the music of Nazem El Ghazali, one of my and the landlord’s mother’s favorite Iraqi singers. During my three years of studies, I heard him, through her, in the morning and early evening hours. For three years, the landlord’s mother refused to believe that I was Arab, and chose to treat me as if I were a Jew named Hagit. “Hagit, you should join us for Passover… it’s too bad that you didn’t go back to your family for the holiday!” “Hagit, may you be written in the book of life!” (a common Jewish saying during the High Holidays), “happy Independence Day to you and the people of Israel!” “Hagit, where did you learn Arabic?”
“This is the hundredth time I’ve explained to her that I am not Hagit!” I tell her son. “She doesn’t know that I’m Palestinian? Why doesn’t she want to believe that I am an Arab?!” The son smiles. “I never actually told her. In my eyes, it doesn’t matter which group you belong to. The only thing that matters is that you are a human being. I wish all the Jews and Arabs could be like you!”
***
For my master’s thesis, I decided to research how Palestinians live within entirely Jewish surroundings. How do the cultural and national differences, as well as the conflict between the two nations come into play in these individuals’ day-to-day lives? What happens to their identity vis-a-vis the Jewish majority? How do they present themselves? Do they emphasize their Arabness or do they play it down? How do they identify? Which aspects of their identity do they choose to emphasize? How do they respond to discrimination? To stereotypes? Do they allow themselves to relate to our history as Palestinians in Israel, or do they ignore it completely in order to be part of Israeli society?
Most of these questions are taken for granted by the Arab minority while the Jewish majority is not even conscious of them. One interviewee, a 26-year-old who works for a Zionist research institute, told me: “I am totally unsure when it comes to definitions. The only thing I know for sure is that I am Arab and nothing more. I am not Jewish, not Israeli and not Palestinian.
“I am Israeli and there is no escaping it. But do I feel like I belong? Not at all!” said a Palestinian hi-tech worker. “Today, even the ability to hold onto this illusion no longer exists.”
I interviewed Palestinian professionals (men and women, Muslims and Christians, of different ages) who work in Jewish organizations and live in either Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. I learned that the choice – if it is indeed a choice – to work for a Jewish organization comes at a price for the Arab professional. This is expressed by silence and silencing, a perpetual refrain from sharing political positions or open criticism, lack of legitimacy to express protest, self-censorship and experiencing frustration and hopelessness of lack of control and an ability to change the present situation.
The situations and responses varied: female Palestinian professionals tended to respond to racism, whether immediately or some time after a specific incident. They believed that with attention and a proper explanation, they could change their surroundings. The men, however, receded in the face of racism, either through denial or by ignoring the racism.
Furthermore, the women emphasized their Palestinian and gender identity. “First of all, I am a woman,” was a common response. Some of them were under pressure from family members to return from the Jewish city to their home in the periphery, where they grew up. These women’s struggle is two-fold: with the men in their families (fathers, brothers), and with the Jewish surroundings in which they work.
Each of the women I interviewed, without exception, has been told “wow, you don’t look like an Arab,” a phrase which carries with it a world of prejudice and stereotypes. “I don’t understand what they expect, that I come to work with a tent and a camel?” asked one of the interviewees, who is the sole Arab woman in a Jewish organization. Many interviewees either asked me to turn off the tape recorder or not include the specific racist incidents they experienced while working for the organizations.
Arab service workers, be they hospital nurses, speech therapists or lawyers, reported many cases in which those receiving their services cast doubt on the workers’ professionalism or refused to be served by them. The specific cases in which they were able to change the minds of Jews filled the workers with pride, although the recurring experience of rejection wore them out and even caused them to want to quit their jobs. “Sometimes, the university brings us donors from outside Israel and invites me to sit and speak with them about the situation of Arabs in Israel,” said one of the male interviewees who lectures at a large university. “I feel like I am the property of the university.”
Despite it all, many Arab professionals choose to work in Jewish organizations for economic reasons, and for lack of alternatives. Their professional lives are accompanied by a personal, continuous reflex. In conversations they have among themselves, they examine their identities and feelings: ambivalence, reduction of visibility, frustration and distancing themselves from other Palestinian colleagues. And here is an interesting finding: Palestinians working in NGOs for social change experienced more discrimination and growing frustration than those who worked in the private sector.
***
When I waited for my family to arrive from the North for my graduation ceremony, the interviewees that I had met suddenly became mixed up with my own three years at Bar-Ilan, leaving me to wonder how I survived. I spoke with one of the students that sat next to me – whose name happened to be Hagit – happy and excited to be finishing my studies. At the end of the ceremony, the national anthem was played. “A Jewish soul still yearns,” Hagit sang, while my brother and I remained silent, unable to sing words that weren’t written about us.
Towibah Mjdoob is a Community Organizer at Kayan, a feminist organization for the advancement of Palestinian Women in Israel. She has recently submitted her thesis at Bar-Ilan University.
9 july 2013
The ministry of education in Gaza said on Tuesday that construction work in 39 schools in the Strip came to a halt due to the renewal of the blockade and closure of tunnels. It said in a report that the halt to the construction of those schools would negatively affect the educational process in the coastal enclave.
The ministry pointed out that the closure led to shortage in construction material such as cement, iron, gravel, tiles, wood, paint, aluminum, and electric appliances.
The report detailed the situation saying that work in 12 schools under final stages of construction came to a halt while two others were in the medium stage of construction were halted.
It added that contracts for the building of 25 others schools were terminated for the same reason.
The report said that all seven water wells affiliated with the ministry’s various directorates were closed due to fuel shortage.
The ministry pointed out that the closure led to shortage in construction material such as cement, iron, gravel, tiles, wood, paint, aluminum, and electric appliances.
The report detailed the situation saying that work in 12 schools under final stages of construction came to a halt while two others were in the medium stage of construction were halted.
It added that contracts for the building of 25 others schools were terminated for the same reason.
The report said that all seven water wells affiliated with the ministry’s various directorates were closed due to fuel shortage.
8 july 2013
More than 200 Jewish settlers raided the village of Orta, south east of Nablus city, at dawn Monday and offered Talmudic rituals. Reliable local sources said that the raid was launched under protection of the Israeli occupation forces, adding that citizens were terrified at the big number of the settlers and the escorting IOF forces.
Meanwhile, other IOF units stormed a number of suburbs in Nablus city at dawn Monday.
Locals said that the soldiers broke into three suburbs near to the Najah university and searched a number of homes where students live.
Meanwhile, other IOF units stormed a number of suburbs in Nablus city at dawn Monday.
Locals said that the soldiers broke into three suburbs near to the Najah university and searched a number of homes where students live.
There was a rise in unemployment among new graduates aged 20-29 years in 2012 compared to the previous year, said the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) on Monday. It said in a special press release on new university graduates that there are around 30,000 graduates annually from Palestinian higher education institutions.
It said in the 2012/2013 academic year, around 87,000 high school students took the general matriculation exam that allows them to enter college.
According to the PCBS, unemployment rate in 2012 rose to 50.6% among graduates aged 20-29 years with a bachelor degree or an intermediate diploma - 40.9% in the West Bank and 63.2% in the Gaza Strip. In 2011, the unemployment rate for this group was 46.5%.
The highest rates of unemployment among graduates aged 20-29 years with a bachelor degree or an intermediate diploma in the Gaza Strip were teacher training and education (73.0%), social and behavioral sciences (71.7%), humanities (70.3%), life sciences (68.9%) and computing (60.8%).
The highest unemployment rates in the West Bank for the same age group by area of study were teacher training and education (54.8%), social and behavioral sciences (52.4%), mathematics and statistics (51.2%), humanities (45.9%) and journalism and information (44.7%).
It said in the 2012/2013 academic year, around 87,000 high school students took the general matriculation exam that allows them to enter college.
According to the PCBS, unemployment rate in 2012 rose to 50.6% among graduates aged 20-29 years with a bachelor degree or an intermediate diploma - 40.9% in the West Bank and 63.2% in the Gaza Strip. In 2011, the unemployment rate for this group was 46.5%.
The highest rates of unemployment among graduates aged 20-29 years with a bachelor degree or an intermediate diploma in the Gaza Strip were teacher training and education (73.0%), social and behavioral sciences (71.7%), humanities (70.3%), life sciences (68.9%) and computing (60.8%).
The highest unemployment rates in the West Bank for the same age group by area of study were teacher training and education (54.8%), social and behavioral sciences (52.4%), mathematics and statistics (51.2%), humanities (45.9%) and journalism and information (44.7%).
ADWAR Signs Agreement Project “Social Movement of Bedouin Women in Universal Month Against Violence”
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ADWAR signed an agreement project "social movement for Bedouin women," in partnership with Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in the frame work of the program of strengthening civil society participation, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in the Catholic Relief Services office in Bethlehem.
The project aims to develop the knowledge and skill of young women and men in Bedouin communities, the most marginalized areas located in the south east of Yatta (Umm al Khayr, An Najādah, Al Zuwaydin,Alfaqeer, Arab al Ka'abnah) to establish a "gathering of young women and men to advocate the issues of Bedouin women" in order to be able to make pressure and to make an influence to achieve the demands of women, in addition to influence on decision-makers in the "Ministry of Local Government" in order to activate the role of local councils in the provision of essential community services that take into account the needs of gender. |
The project also aims to educate the Bedouin community about the importance of the role of women in community, participation and changing.
The project will achieve its objectives throughout the establishment of many community activities training program, seminars and media awareness by young women and men in Bedouin communities in cooperation with local councils and tribesmen.
Sahar Alkawasmeh, ADWAR Association director pointed out that the project is an important project to the association since it is targeting young women and men in Bedouin communities, the most marginalized in the southeast of Yatta south of Hebron governorate, which suffer from social and economic conditions and difficult political situations. Women are marginalized, they are not allowed to participate in social activities and events, they are ignored and unable to participate despite the fact that women occupy almost half of the population of those gatherings.
Statistics show that women cannot complete their higher education, as the dropout rate rises at high school level. It is thought that it is better to keep women in homes due to poverty and the difficulty of remote communications, in this project will contribute to strengthening the role of women to participate in decision-making and to claim the rights that considers the needs of gender.
The project will achieve its objectives throughout the establishment of many community activities training program, seminars and media awareness by young women and men in Bedouin communities in cooperation with local councils and tribesmen.
Sahar Alkawasmeh, ADWAR Association director pointed out that the project is an important project to the association since it is targeting young women and men in Bedouin communities, the most marginalized in the southeast of Yatta south of Hebron governorate, which suffer from social and economic conditions and difficult political situations. Women are marginalized, they are not allowed to participate in social activities and events, they are ignored and unable to participate despite the fact that women occupy almost half of the population of those gatherings.
Statistics show that women cannot complete their higher education, as the dropout rate rises at high school level. It is thought that it is better to keep women in homes due to poverty and the difficulty of remote communications, in this project will contribute to strengthening the role of women to participate in decision-making and to claim the rights that considers the needs of gender.
