Considering the fact that poverty and lack of education are main contributing factors to violence and terrorism, Im not sure withholding education from Palestinian children in East Jerusalem is the best idea: Thousands of students in Jerusalem are not going to school because they have no place to learn - In East Jerusalem there is a shortage of 738 classrooms, and only 38% of the Palestinian children learn in the city education system. The problem isnt a lack of funds, but rather a planning policy which prevents the development of the Palestinian neighbourhoods in the city. In honor of the opening of the school year, here is a small math problem: In East Jerusalem there is a shortage of 408 classrooms and 330 kindergarten rooms. Likewise, there is a need to build 681 classrooms in order to replace classrooms which are not up to standard. In the formal education system there is also a shortage of 1,636 classrooms for students who are therefore forced to learn in the expensive informal education system. In the past five years the Jerusalem municipality has built on average 36 new classrooms every year in the Palestinian neighbourhoods of the city. How many years will it take for the municipality to fill in the shortage and fulfil its basic obligation of providing free education to all the children in the united city? It isnt hard math, but its worth solving: 21 years to build 738 missing classrooms and 40 years if they also want to replace the classrooms which are not up to standard. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of students are being forced to pay large sums of money for their education and many thousands of students simply are not attending school because they have no place to learn. No one knows the exact number, but according to the figures of the municipality, there are over 8,000 children.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Sep 2014 12:53:57 +0000