Parents at Christian schools to take budget protest to PM

The parents of students at Israel’s Christian schools plan to demonstrate Wednesday outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, over an ongoing funding row that has left the schools across the country shuttered since the beginning of the academic year.

Some 300 parents held a protest Saturday outside the Haifa home of Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, to voice their dismay over the budget cuts that led to a rise in tuition fees. Claiming the 47 schools receive less funding than Jewish schools due to discrimination, the parents held up banners highlighting the plight of the 33,000 students still waiting to start their studies.

The schools, most of which are run by the Roman Catholic church but which also include Protestant and Orthodox institutions, have been on strike since the school year started on September 1.

Last Monday, some 450,000 Arab Israeli pupils stayed home as their schools called a strike in solidarity with the Christian schools. Protests have also been held in Jerusalem, Ramle, Nazareth, and Shfaram.

School officials say they receive less than one-third of the subsidies Israel provides Jewish schools, and that their strike will continue until their demands are met. The schools say that their 65-percent state budgeting was cut to 34% two years ago, before being reduced to its current level of 29%.

The state’s offer to return the funding up to 34%, and to allow parents to fund the balance, was rejected by the principals, clergy and parents, who demand the full funding they say Jewish schools get.

The Education Ministry has reiterated its assertion that there is no difference in the funding of Christian and Jewish schools of recognized but unofficial status. It noted last week that Christians had been offered a number of ways to resolve the differences but had rejected them while choosing to close the schools “at the students’ expense.”

AFP contributed to this report.