bodies need to improve the indicators used in the MoH Annual Health Report,
including indicators of accountability and Ministry’s budget allocations for
human resource development.
2.2.3 Right to education
On 26 March 2018, the Law by Decree No. 6 of 2018 on Higher Education was
passed. However, the ICHR does not see a paradigm shift between this new
legislation and the provisions of the Law on Higher Education No. 11 of 1998,
particularly in relation to determining the state’s responsibility for realising
the right to education. It is noted that the Law by Decree gives the MoEHE a
more regulatory, than centralised, role in implementing the right to education.
It does not provide that higher education is a right and free of charge, just
like general education. Furthermore, the Law by Decree does not confirm that
higher education is a non-profit service, which is incumbent on the state.
At the beginning of each academic year, the MoEHE continues to collect
“donations” of specified amounts from students. By the way they are
collected, these “donations” seem to be compulsory in the eyes of the
public. Compounded by inadequate financial resources of universities, the
government inability to provide financial support to eliminate the cumulative
deficit in university budgets had a direct bearing on economic accessibility.
Exhibiting a discriminatory treatment, vulnerable students will not be capable
of accessing higher education both de jure and de facto.
The ICHR received 16 complaints, including claims of violations of the right
to education. Two complaints were filed in the Gaza Strip, one against the
Gaza Correction and Rehabilitation Centre – Women’s Section, and the other
against a university. Of the 14 complaints lodged in the West Bank, 10 were
against the MoEHE, three against universities, and one against a correction
and rehabilitation centre.
The distribution of the complaints received by the ICHR in the West Bank
involved students with disabilities (3); right to school education (5); right to
higher education (4); and cancelling an increase in tuition fees at a private
school (1). In another complaint, the family of a student demanded that the
MoEHE reverse a decision made to transfer their son to another school after
the principal and teachers physically assaulted him. In the Gaza Strip, one
complaint was filed by a female inmate in a correction and rehabilitation centre,
addressing her right to pursue her secondary education. Another concerned
the right to higher education.
According to its replies on the accountability of persons responsible for abusing
the right to education,14 the MoEHE stated that it established approximately
14 MoEHE letter to the ICHR, 3 February 2019.
Executive Summary 2018
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