The state is dragging its feet on plans to remove generators from Bedouin schools in Israel's South, according to organizations petitioning the high court to try to get the generators replaced and who will present a response to the state to the high court next week.
The petition, submitted by parents of children attending state-recognized Bedouin schools in which electricity is provided by generators and a number of NGOs, is aimed at removing the generators in favor of alternative sources of electricity.
The generators are a hazard to the health of the children and teachers, according to the organizations signed on the petition, which include the Adam Teva V’Din, Non-profit Shamsuna, which works to empower the Bedouin sector, Israel's Union of Public Health doctors, the Regional Council of Unrecognized Villages, and the National Council for the Child.
The petition named the Education Ministry, the Interior Ministry, the Social Equality and Advancement of the Status of Women Ministry, the Energy Ministry, the Health Ministry, the Environmental Protection Ministry, and two local regional councils as respondents.
The dangers of the use of generators in schools can include an increased risk of fire or even explosion, burns and injury from close contact with generators, inhalation of dangerous gasses that are released during the generator's use, hearing damage from the noise pollution generators produce, and even radiation from large generators, according to an expert report submitted with the petition.
Generators endanger children, teachers
The petition was submitted nearly a year ago, Ortal Sanker, a lawyer for the Adam Teva V’Din emphasized.
"Since its submission, another school year has begun, during which thousands of children are forced to stay in kindergartens and schools powered by generators, thereby endangering their lives and health."
While the state has "taken on a great deal of bureaucracy, In practice, no concrete solution has been implemented for the approximately 44 educational institutions currently operating with generators," she added.
"As a result, there is a real concern that in the next school year, set to begin in about seven months, the same children will continue studying in educational institutions powered by the same polluting generators. "
In response to the court submitted at the end of last month, the state said that the Education Minister had created an interministerial committee to handle "urgent issues within the field of education" in Bedouin villages, the goals of which are to work to improve education services for Bedouin students.
The committee has discussed a series of issues, including infrastructure, it added.
The state also said that it had put out a tender to select a company that would collect data about the state of Bedouin schools, that a company had been selected, and that the process would begin in February.
It added that a new high school had been opened for students from the Bedouin sector.
Sanker called the fact that the state mentioned the new school an example of the failure of the state, saying that it moved students from schools using generators to the new high school but that it seems that the new high school also gets its electricity from generators.
The state asked for more time from the court, requesting to submit another update in May.
The petitioners also highlighted that an immediate solution that the state could employ would be the use of solar panels to provide electricity to schools.
"Right now, too many children, many of them very young, are forced to learn in schools and kindergartens whose electricity is supplied by polluting generators in a way that endangers their safety and health," the petitioners highlighted in an October response.
They highlighted that the solar solution is already providing six kindergartens with electricity, and generators have been removed from these kindergartens.
This solution not only works to provide the kindergartens with their electricity needs, but it is also a financial investment that pays for itself in less than two years, according to the petitioners.
The state said that a plan to use solar energy is waiting for a decision in the Al-Kasom Regional Council and that it should be implemented in the next year. The state also said it is looking into other implementations of renewable energy solutions.
"The petitioners have demonstrated in their court submissions why the solar solution is both feasible and economically advantageous compared to the use of generators and diesel fuel," Sanker said.
"The state's actions remain general and complex, failing to provide a concrete and immediate solution to an urgent problem—one that can be easily addressed and effectively resolved through simple and swift measures," she said.
"We call on the state to come to its senses, stop dragging its feet, and take real and immediate action, such as connecting these educational institutions to solar energy, so that thousands of children can begin the school year in a safe environment free from air pollution."