6,000 students strike over school violence in Bedouin community
Protest triggered by incident Thursday in which teacher was attacked by family members of a student removed from classroom
Over 6,000 students boycotted classes Sunday in the southern Bedouin town of Segev Shalom in order to protest against the growing phenomenon of violence against teachers in the Bedouin community.
The student strike was triggered by an incident on Thursday in which a teacher in the town was attacked by relatives of a student the teacher had removed from the classroom, Israel Radio reported.
The attackers waited for the teacher outside of the school. He was badly beaten and taken to the Soroka Hospital in Beersheba following the incident covered in bruises. All of the school’s students were sent home as a result of the attack.
According to Israel Radio, police were called to the school but took no action against the attackers and left as soon as they were dispersed. according to reports, police are now investigating the attack.
Musa al-Azazme, chairman of the Segev Shalom parents committee, which helped organize the strike, called for security guards to be placed outside of schools to prevent future violence.
He also accused the Education Ministry of indifference, telling Israel Radio that “it probably doesn’t interest the Education Ministry what happens in the Bedouin community.”
“If this happened elsewhere, we would have heard about in the news,” he added.
Israel Radio said that in addition to a growing number of incidents in which family members of disgruntled students attacked teachers, there has also been an increase in the number of cases in which principals attacked their deputies or teachers at the school.
“We feel the substantial threat against teachers as a result of all types of things that take place,” said one man interviewed on the radio, who did not give his name. This is “due to threats made by students against teachers or by teachers against students.”
An Education Ministry spokesperson told Israel Radio that it treats any case of violence in schools with the utmost seriousness and is taking action against the problem.
The Education Ministry also said it is working with the police, local councils and school administrators to provide support and training to teachers in order to address the problem.
The Times of Israel Community.