A black and white issue

19.07.2011                      17.Tammus, 5771                     Fasttag im Tammus

Schul-Intergration:

A black and white issue

Ethiopian parents mount integration struggle in Petah Tikva, where schools are nearly segregated.

Only one of the 294 pupils at the Ner Etzion Elementary School in Petah Tikva is not of Ethiopian origin. As a result, the school has become a symbol of the difficulties involved in integrating the Ethiopian community in the city – and now the struggle has become even more acute.
Last week, dozens of parents of children from the school got together to call on the authorities to close down the institution in the next school year and disperse the children among other elementary schools in Petah Tikva. At the meeting, which was organized by activists from the city's Ethiopian community, the parents announced that they would keep their children home from school until a suitable arrangement was worked out….