Abugida Eritrean Community School

s recently begun offering 6-month long Hebrew and English language courses to adults within the Eritrean asylum seekers community. Some children are undocumented refugees who arrived in Israel with their parents and some have been born in Israel from parents who arrived in Israel fleeing persecution in Eritrea. Unfortunately, the state of Israel does not recognise the refugee status the African asylum seekers in Israel who are genuinely fleeing persecution. Israel is a reluctant host to 46,437 African asylum seekers predominantly from Eritrea (73%) and Sudan (19%) and a small minority (8%) arriving from several other African countries. The state policy toward asylum seekers (particularly Eritreans and Sudanese) is one of temporary non-deportation, officially referred to as “group protection.” Asylum seekers in Israel are denied basic rights and access to social services and the government of Israel has employed various policies to pressure asylum seekers to leave – including indefinite arbitrary detention, refusal to accept and review asylum claims, limitation of access to basic state-sponsored services, incitement and coerced repatriation. The Supreme Court of Israel has, in two distinct decisions, affirmed that the State’s treatment of African asylum seekers is unacceptable and violates fundamental laws concerning human dignity and liberty. The Court insisted on a comprehensive policy that seriously tackles this issue, but the government remains noncompliant. Recently, the government passed a law that further cripples employment opportunities for asylum seekers, although most of them have never been officially permitted to work. According to new legislation, 20% of their monthly salary is deducted and put aside, and will only be released when the leave Israel. Moreover, employers are required to pay an additional 16% tax, further reducing the already limited employment opportunities for asylum seekers. The Abugida Eritrean Community School depends solely on parental monthly payments. However, with the above mentioned limiting conditions, parents will not be able to pay the monthly payments to run the school. The collected money from the parents covers rent, teacher's salary, municipal tax and utilities. The school is growing; there are currently 97 children and five teachers. It is expected the student numbers will double in the next academic year; hence, additional space is needed. The school held a general assembly in January, 2017 and elected a new board, whose members are seven parents.