Earlier this week an attorney at the Mossawa Center, Adv. Jawad Qassem, sent a letter to the mayor of Haifa, Mr. YonaYahav. In this letter Mossawa demanded that the Mayor act immediately to find a solution to the problems plaguing the Hiwar school and to end the suffering of the students and staff there.

The Hiwar school was established in 2006 "as a temporary solution" to this day nothing has been done by the municipality despite their pledgein 2013 to build a new School.Conversely the municipality recently started implementing a project to build a new wing ofanother city school the Herzl School.

In accordance withcomplaints received by the Mossawa Center from the parents of students attending the school, it school does not meet the standards of the Ministry of Education because of the intolerable overcrowding and physical deficiencies of the building.It is supposed to serve 180 children but over 300 students are currently attending the school. On a normal day you can see about 60 children learning in the hallways. Overcrowding has caused clashes between the children, and there is no open space for games during recess.

Every winter the ground-floor classrooms are flooded due to leaking. The air pollution level at the school is very high endangering the health of the students and staff. Within the school there is a building that has been declared a dangerous structure. The high moisture and crumbling and peeling of plaster which might weaken the stability of the building puts students and staff in constant danger. Even access to the school is very dangerous for students due to the condition of local roads; additionally traffic jams are caused every day due to shortage of parking for parents who come to pick up their children.

Mossawa demanded that the Mayor act immediately to deal with thesafety hazards and other deficiencies in the school. The municipality must provide the students with a building that complies with the basic standards to be a place of learning for children. It must include an appropriate number ofsuitable classrooms as well as, a playground,standard bathrooms, a library, a computer lab, rooms and halls for enrichment activities, rooms for teachers and counselors. The building needs to comply with all official standards in regards to space and resources.

Mossawa director Mr. Jafar Farah stated,“The continuation of the current situation is a violation of the rights of students to receive a proper and equal education. The failure of the Mayor and the Haifa municipality to act to solve the problem listed above is a severe blow to the right to education, and the principle of equality and dignity of every person.”
Adv Qassem stated, “If we do not get a positive response on the matter, we will bring this matter to the Administrative Court in Haifa.”