Today I had the pleasure of watching my cousin teach a course at Sapir college, just outside of Gaza. A campus filled with Jewish and Muslim students from different backgrounds. And, even though the Muslims and the Jews by and large sat amongst themselves during lunchtime, there was still this diversity on campus where everyone seemed to get along.
Though this diversity at the college level is not the case for the K-12 public school system in Israel.
A Jewish child can grow up in Israel and go through their entire school career and never come into much contact with an Arab child, make friends with them, share a meal with them, or play a sport with them. And, not until the student graduates, joins the army, or goes into the work force, will they have their first authentic interactions with someone outside of their Jewish identity.
Similarly, an Arab child in Israel could go through the school system in Israel and have little to no contact with a Jewish child.
Arabs make up more than 21% of Israel’s population, and Jews make up more than 73%.
How can we expect peace to come to the region when children who are just learning how to read only interact with those of the same background? How can we expect children to empathize and have curiosity for other cultural and religious identities if the school system is not directly exposing them to a diverse population?
Is this segregation truly what the government wants? Is the government afraid that a population that is integrated will make the country weaker? And, though the segregation of schools is not a law, it appears it is by design.
There are some wonderful exceptions where there are schools that do integrate students from different backgrounds like Hand in Hand. But, unfortunately, there are just six Hand in Hand schools in the entire country.
Not that Israel doesn’t have enough problems, but I wonder if one of the overlooked problems that Israel is currently facing is the segregated education system.
Here is an article on the school system in Israel:
https://en.idi.org.il/articles/2323#:~:text=Some%2063%20years%20ago%2C%20the,the%20results%20have%20been%20tragic.
Sapir College
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