"Sadly, that won't end just because we produce an alternative textbook. We can teach students democratic values but they still have to try to pass an exam set according to the education ministry's agenda."
Budget discriminationPalestinian leaders in Israel have long complained about massively discriminatory budgets favoring Jewish schools, and a shortage of thousands of classrooms and teachers in Arab schools.
As a result, Palestinian students in Israel have on average much lower scores in exams than their Jewish peers, with the gap growing in recent years.
Fears that the situation will deteriorate further with the introduction of the ministry's new civics course were heightened in January when Bennett defended the changes. "Are we ashamed of the fact that the state of Israel is a Jewish state?" he said on Army Radio.
Last month he was also reported to have ousted the ministry's chief scientist, Ami Volansky, over his efforts to tackle racism in Israeli schools towards ethnic minorities. The index was intended as a response to the murder of a Palestinian teenager, Mohammed Abu Khdeir, by Israeli youths in Jerusalem in July 2014.
Written in secretAlthough the ministry produced the new civics textbook amid great secrecy, leading Jewish educators who have seen the final text complain that it is riddled with factual inaccuracies, maligns the Palestinian minority, and discounts democratic values.
Revital Amiram, who recently demanded that her name be removed from the final textbook, told Al-Jazeera that she was "deeply unhappy" about the revisions made to her chapters.
They included a "highly misleading" quote from a Palestinian member of the Israeli parliament in 1949, praising Israeli democracy. She noted that the Palestinian minority was living under military rule at the time and such quotes did not reflect wider opinion.
She said: "We are being denied the right to see the completed textbook. If it was balanced and fair, then why all this secrecy?"
The education ministry was unavailable for comment.
Controversies have beset the ministry since Bennett took over. A novel about a romance between a Jew and Palestinian was banned from schools because it encouraged intermarriage. Funds on "pluralism" education have been cut, and left-wing groups like Breaking the Silence barred from entering schools.
Last month six members of the Council for Higher Education resigned, accusing Bennett of abusing his powers over appointments. Some 1,500 academics have expressed no confidence in Bennett.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
