http://www3.haaretz.co.il/eng/scripts/show_katava.asp?id=28738&mador=1&datee=9/20/98
Sunday, September 20, 1998
Arab Schools Get Short End of
Enrichment Programs
By Joseph Algazy, Ha'aretz Correspondent
Arab schools in Israel were allotted far fewer
hours for enrichment than schools in Jewish
development towns, which have a similar
socio-economic character, according to
researchers from two social-action institutes
who based their findings on an analysis of
Education Ministry data for the 1996/97 school
year, the last for which figures are
available.
Dr. Shlomo Swirski of the Adva Center for
social research in Israel, and Yousef Khouri
from the Moussawa Center for equality of the
Arab population also found that the monetary
value of per capita enrichment hours for
Jewish children is double that for Arab
children.
In the 1996/97 school year the Education
Ministry allocated 49,000 enrichment hours in
elementary schools at a cost of NIS 3,160 per
hour, or a total outlay of NIS 154.8 million.
The researchers found that 25 development
towns had received 9,260 hours of elementary
school enrichment hours at a total cost of NIS
29.2 million, or 18.9 percent of the
enrichment hours budget.
In contrast, 79 Arab localities, with twice as
many children as the development towns,
received 8,752 elementary school enrichment
hours at a total cost of NIS 27.7 million,
representing 18 percent of the enrichment
budget.
In monetary terms, a child attending an Arab
school received an average of NIS 196 worth of
enrichment classes, as compared with NIS 418
for a Jewish child.
A similar situation exists at the junior high
school level. In the 1996-97 year the
Education Ministry allocated 35,250 hours for
enrichment in junior highs, at a cost of NIS
3,870 per hour, or a total of NIS 136.4
million.
Again, despite the fact that there are more
Arab students at the junior high level than
Jewish students at the same level in
development towns, the Jewish schools received
a larger allocation.
The 25 development towns were granted 7,522
enrichment hours for junior high schools,
worth NIS 29.1 million, or 21.3 percent of the
enrichment budget; while the 79 Arab
localities received 5,824 hours, worth NIS
22.5 million, or 16.5 percent of the
enrichment hours budget.
The average amount spent by the Education
Ministry on each Arab student at the junior
high level in 1996/97 was NIS 616, as compared
with NIS 1,163 for each Jewish student.
Swirski and Khouri note that in 1994 the
Education Ministry, then under Amnon
Rubinstein (Meretz), decided to change the
definition of eligibility for enrichment to
make it apply to the Arab population as well.
However, two different sets of criteria were
also set at the time, one for Arab localities
and the other for Jewish localities. The
researchers maintain that the dual criteria
worked against the Arab students.
Arab children constitute 31 percent of the
country's poor children (though Arabs account
for only 15 percent of the total population),
and more than 80 percent of the Arab students
in Israel attend elementary and junior high
schools.
Taking these figures into account, Swirski and
Khouri conclude that the share of Arab
students in enrichment hours "should be double
what it actually is.
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