Corridors of Power: Renaissance time

We have all encountered frustrating ‘Kafkaesque' situations; here is another one, happening now.

By PEGGY CIDOR
Updated: NOVEMBER 12, 2015 17:09
Palestinians take part in Friday prayers in East Jerusalem's Beit Hanina neighbourhood (photo credit: REUTERS)
Palestinians take part in Friday prayers in East Jerusalem's Beit Hanina neighbourhood
(photo credit: REUTERS)
‘Kafkaesque” is defined by the Babylon dictionary-translator as the “absurd, depressing, helpless condition of the citizen against bureaucratic power.” We have all encountered frustrating situations of that nature; here is another one, happening now.
Renaissance Junior High School is located in Beit Hanina, an Arab neighborhood that has been one of the quietest throughout the recent terrorist wave. But Renaissance is more than just another school keeping its students away from trouble and involvement in riots – it is one of only two junior high schools in the city’s Arab sector to openly teach according to the Israeli curriculum, including the Israeli matriculation test (instead of the Jordanian or the Palestinian).
Principal Aladin Ja’aber believes this is the best way to prepare his students for real life. He has obtained the support of many Arab families in the city, who choose to send their children there despite the fact that it is a private school requiring tuition fees. The exact status of the school is “recognized but not official,” which means it is under the supervision of the municipality’s education administration – and by extension, of the Education Ministry – and therefore receives up to 70 percent of its budget from public coffers. The remaining 30% is to be provided by school tuition and donations from private individuals and foundations.
That is where our Kafkaesque situation begins. Since the school works according to the Israeli curriculum and prepares students for the Israeli bagrut, the Palestinian Authority’s Education Ministry refuses to grant it any financial support. Thus, the only solution to complete the budget is money from donations. Last month, a delegation of potential donors from European countries and foundations that visited the school decided not to grant aid. There was no official explanation for the decision, but the father of a student in the 11th grade said, “it is a school for Palestinian boys, but is partially funded by the Jerusalem Municipality, which belongs to Israel, so it didn’t fit their criteria.”
That was the situation until last month – complicated enough. But then it became even worse. Due to the lack of financial resources, the school’s principal didn’t pay staff the social benefits required by law.
The Education Ministry discovered that pensions and National Insurance Institute payments were not being transferred; thus, in accordance with the law, all public funding to Renaissance High School was stopped.
As a result, the school now lacks not only most of the 30% of its budget that it had hoped to get from donations from Europe and the PA, but also the 70% that was being disbursed by the Education Ministry (through the city’s education administration).
Ja’aber has declared that if a solution is not found in the coming days, he will have to close down the Renaissance School and send its 125 students home – probably to the streets, where they will be vulnerable to the riots and violence in the Arab sector. Even if, as sources at Safra Square believe, the aim of his declaration is to make the relevant authorities act to save the school, the threat to Renaissance is serious.
Mayor Nir Barkat, holder of the education portfolio in the city council, points out through a spokesman that the Renaissance School has chosen to remain a private school, and therefore is subject to legal limits regarding the public resources it can obtain. Added the spokesman, “Mayor Barkat, who has in the past visited the Renaissance School, has managed until recently to find additional ways to add to the school’s subsidies provided by the municipality, but as long as the school remains independent – as recognized but not official – there is no way the municipality can do more.”
Sources at Safra Square indicate that additional efforts are being made to find a solution and prevent the closure of the school, but meanwhile the atmosphere at the school and among the parents, who have chosen to send their children to a school that openly accepts Israel’s presence and educative programs, is close to despair.