Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education

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Ministry of Education and Higher Education
Emblem of Palestine.svg
Seal of Palestine
Agency overview
Formed1948 (first form)
1994 (second form)
Jurisdiction Government of Palestine
Headquarters Ramallah, Palestine
Minister responsible

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education is the branch of the Palestinian government in charge of managing the education in Palestine. It was established in 1994 after the formation of the Palestinian National Authority. [1]

Contents

Nasser al-Shaer, the former Minister of Education was arrested by Israeli authorities twice for membership in Hamas and released both times. After the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed all Hamas ministers including Shaer.[ citation needed ]

Marwan Awartani was appointed minister in 2019 and served from April 14, 2019 until his resignation was accepted on September 3, 2023. [2]

Activities

Throughout 2001–2005, the ministry finalized the establishment of a Palestinian national curriculum by hiring teachers and providing classrooms and books.

The five programs of the plan were:

  1. Education as a human right Aim to provide an opportunity for all children from kindergarten to secondary school, by recruiting new teachers, adding new classrooms, textbooks, increasing the level of enrollment in the secondary stage, and decreasing the dropout rate.
  2. Education as the basic component of citizenship Developing quality education is the production, assessment, evaluation, and enrichment of school textbooks and instruction manuals for the Palestinian Curriculum as well as teacher and supervisor training.
  3. Education as a tool for social and economic development Developing a vocational and technical training program aiming to meet the basic needs of the local market, and providing a skilled workforce that can contribute positively to the national economy. Providing schools with the necessary equipment and resources.
  4. Education as a tool for social and economic development Developing new programs for general education, pre-school, informal education, adult education, and special education, that is available for the general population.
  5. Education as a continuous, renewable, participatory process Restructuring the financial and administrative systems to ensure efficient use of available resources. The program will include the school-map project, as well as reinforce concepts of strategic planning and organizational administration. Also, developing and reviewing policies, and rules and regulations; updating of position responsibilities and job descriptions; and developing relations between schools and the local community. [3]

Other activities are training and providing income for teachers, increasing the quality of school technology as well as expanding and building new schools.

The K12 educational system is divided into the First Stage of Basic Education (Preparation Stage; grades 1–4), the Second Stage of Basic Education (Empowerment Stage; grades 5–9); and Secondary Stage (Acquisition Stage; grades 10–12. [4] In grade 11, students can opt for a literary stream focused on languages and social science, or a scientific stream focuses on subjects such as physics, chemistry, and mathematics. [4] Grades 1–10 are compulsory, according to the Palestinian Educational Law (Ministry of Education and Higher Education, 2017).

According to a Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (2021), there are 1,309,000 school students in grades K-12 across the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. [4]

The Ministry of Education’s strategic plan of 2017-2022 states the goal of K12 education as “a Palestinian society that possess the culture, values, skills, science and technology to produce new knowledge and leverage it in development and liberation.” [4]

In 2007, when Hamas led the Ministry of Education as part of power sharing agreement with Fatah, the ministry confiscated around 1,500 copies of the book Speak Bird, Speak Again . from public school libraries in Gaza and the West Bank. [5] [6] Hamas suppressed this book of folk tales, which featured the female oral tradition of Palestinian hikaye, from public school libraries on the grounds that the stories used colloquial and sometimes offensive language that was unsuitable for teaching children. [7] However, after a storm of public outrage, this decision was soon withdrawn. [8]

Taking advantages of teachers’ strikes in 2008, Hamas “implemented a gradual takeover of the Ministry of Education,” by hiring and appointing teachers and administrators who were Hamas members or sympathizers, thus paving the way for increased Islamic influence in schools, particularly in Gaza. [9]

In 2013, at a time when the Hamas-run ministry of education in Gaza was operating independently of the PA-run ministry in the West Bank, schools in Gaza introduced new textbooks as part of a “patriotic education” program. [10]

List of ministers

All-Palestine Government
#MinisterPartyGovernmentsTerm startTerm endNotes
Minister of Education
1 Muhammad Ali Saleh  [ ar ] Independent All-Palestine 22 September 19481952
Government of Palestine
#MinisterPartyGovernmentsTerm startTerm endNotes
Minister of Education and Higher Education
1 Yasser Amr  [ ar ] Independent 1 20 May 199417 May 1996
Minister of Education
2 Yasser Arafat Fatah 2, 3 17 May 199613 June 2002Serving Prime Minister
Minister of Education and Higher Education
3 Naim Abu al-Hummus  [ ar ] Fatah 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 13 June 200229 March 2006
4 Nasser al-Shaer Hamas 10, 11 29 March 200614 June 2007Serving Deputy Prime Minister
5 Lamis al-Alami Independent 12, 13 14 June 200716 May 2012
Minister of Education
5 Lamis al-Alami Independent 14 16 May 20126 June 2013
Minister of Education and Higher Education
6 Ali Abu Zuhri  [ ar ] Independent 15, 16 6 June 20132 June 2014
7 Khawla Shakhshir  [ ar ] Independent 17 2 June 201430 June 2015
8 Sabri Saidam  [ ar ] Independent 17 30 June 201513 April 2019
Minister of Education
9 Marwan Awartani Independent 18 13 April 20193 September 2023
10 Mahmoud Abu Muwais  [ ar ] Independent 18 3 September 202331 March 2024
Minister of Education and Higher Education
11 Amjad Barham  [ ar ] Independent 19 31 March 2024Incumbent

References

  1. The Ministry Archived 2006-08-21 at archive.today Palestinian Ministry of Education & Higher Education, 2006.
  2. "Palestinian Education Minister Awartani Steps Down". The Media Line. 4 September 2023. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
  3. The Five-Year Plan (2001-2005) A Comprehensive Reform of the Educational System: Implementation of the comprehensive Five-Year-Plan [ permanent dead link ] Palestinian Ministry of Education & Higher Education, 2006
  4. 1 2 3 4 Hussein, Anwar; Wong, Shelley; Bright, Anita (2022-09-15), "The Palestinian K-12 Education System: History, Structure, Challenges, and Opportunities", Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education, doi:10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.001.0001/acrefore-9780190264093-e-1662, ISBN   978-0-19-026409-3 , retrieved 2024-04-18
  5. "Hamas orders ban on folk tale book". The Jerusalem Post . 2007-03-05. ISSN   0792-822X . Retrieved 2024-04-18.
  6. "Book of Palestinian folk tales banned by Hamas". www.thestar.com. Retrieved 2024-04-18.
  7. "Hamas school book ban sparks anger". Toronto Star. 2007-03-05. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
  8. "Hamas reverse on schoolbook ban". 2007-03-13. Retrieved 2023-11-22.
  9. Berti, Benedetta (2015). "Non-State Actors as Providers of Governance: The Hamas Government in Gaza between Effective Sovereignty, Centralized Authority, and Resistance". Middle East Journal. 69 (1): 9–31. ISSN   0026-3141.
  10. "PA blasts Hamas's belligerent new school curriculum". Times of Israel. November 20, 2013.