The fight by the parents of four children in Oranit, a settlement situated on the Seam Line in the West Bank, for the opening of a communication class at the local religious (mamlachti-dati) elementary school finally ended last week in their favor, when the Lod District Court accepted their petition.
The children, all on the autistic spectrum, had spent the past academic year in a secular (mamlachti) kindergarten. Ahead of the first grade, the parents approached the Education Ministry over six months ago, requesting that it establish a communication class for the 2025-2026 school year, specifically tailored to special education curricula.
This is a service to which students with special needs are entitled. The ministry did approve a quota for such a class, but objected to it being taught and managed at the mamlachti-dati elementary school in Oranit, Yuvalim.
NGO Israel Hofsheet, which assisted with the filing of the petition, noted that the parents insisted on Yuvalim because of previous successes there with such a class. Furthermore, the parents' position was supported by the municipal council and other professional authorities, who deemed this the most appropriate and fitting educational framework for their children.
In the petition filed last week, the families argued that educational decisions are exclusively at the behest of parents, and that once the Education Ministry had granted a quota, the next responsible move was to make sure that the best possible framework for the students is implemented - and that the best school for the service be chosen to fill the quota.
The court ruled that the prevention of the class constituted unlawful discrimination, that the ministry open the class with the start of the new school year next week, and that it cover the parents' legal expenses, totaling NIS 24,000.
The families welcomed the decision, calling it a “significant victory for justice and equality.”
They added that the decision “placed the well-being of our children above any other consideration. This is a significant step in the struggle for a better future, with adapted, inclusive, and equal education for our children.”
Education Ministry objects over lifestyle gaps, lack of integration
The Education Ministry objected to the opening due to the lifestyle gaps between the four students and the rest of the student population, and argued that, should they be integrated, integration carries a risk of “lifestyle harm.”
It also proposed an alternative school to run the class, but this one did not have the proper, qualified staff, and it didn't even have a principal secured until about two weeks ago. They added that breaking up the group of four by sending them to schools outside the community would harm the cohesiveness that had been built.
The ministry argued that “the parents of the students will not determine where the children will be placed, but only the Education Ministry, since the admission of students from a National kindergarten would harm the narrative of a National Religious school, to which Yuvalim belongs.”
Israel Hofsheet noted that Yuvalim has enrolled students with special needs from a wide spectrum of backgrounds for years - secular, religious, and ultra-Orthodox (haredi) - including from the very kindergarten at the center of the case.
The court ruled that the narrative consideration was irrelevant and could not serve as the grounds on which the integration of the children was prevented.
“This free choice entrusted to the parents has been clearly recognized in case law… The right to study in a kindergarten or in a school belonging to the National Religious stream is granted to everyone, regardless of religious affiliation,” reads the ruling.
In sharp criticism of the ministry, it noted that ordinarily, it is not for the courts to intervene in such decisions. However, the ministry's actions were irregular in this case, as its decision was not factually supported and was bolstered instead by extraneous considerations rather than relevant ones.
The decision “put the Education Ministry in its place,” said Israel Hofsheet executive director Uri Keidar. The decision blocked discrimination against children and families, “who did nothing wrong other than the fact that they attended a National kindergarten. The [Education] Ministry and [Education] Minister [Yoav] Kisch [(Likud)] must understand that the rights of all children are the most important, and the Ministry must not discriminate against any child to ‘protect’ an imagined nature of the National Religious education.”