A new school in Jerusalem has joined 8 schools that have closed their doors in the last four years due to harassment and measures by the Israeli occupation, which made them unable to continue.
Nader Abu Afifa, the principal of Ahbab Al-Rahman School, told Tel Aviv Tribune Net that the school’s board of directors decided to close it at the beginning of the academic year (2024-2025) after two years of Israeli restrictions and complications that ended this year with the failure to renew its license.
He explains that the school, located in the Shuafat camp northeast of Jerusalem, was established in 1994 and is registered with the Islamic Waqf Department. Before it was closed, 250 male and female students were enrolled in it.
He added that due to the Israeli attack on education and fear of being prosecuted, the school was forced to request a license from the Israeli Ministry of Education, but in the last two years, restrictions have been imposed on it to the point of requesting the change of the building that was built many years ago, imposing a distorted curriculum, and preventing the appointment of teachers who are graduates of Palestinian universities. Recently, the request to renew the license was rejected.
Palestinians in Jerusalem do not have enough land to build schools, and suffer from a shortage of schools and classrooms. The Faisal Husseini Foundation, which specializes in education issues, estimates that the city needs about 10,000 school seats.