Students ride on camels, donkeys, and horses to school
(Video: Mazen Abu Siyam, Atef al-Waliki)
Dozens of children arrived at school on Tuesday morning, riding on camels, donkeys and horses. The students attend the Al-Azazma and Wadi Na'am schools in the Neve Midbar Regional Council in the Negev region.
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Their arrival on camel and horseback was done to protest the delay of the start of their studies - they have not been in class since the beginning of the school year - over a dispute with the local transportation company. The company claims that it has not received payments since February this year.
The organizer of the protest, Ataf Alulidi, 33 and a father of four, told Ynet: "The children were eagerly waiting for school. When a young child asks you why he's not at school, what can you do? So today, I made the decision to take them back 50-60 years and transport them the way my father used to go. It's terrible that this is the situation in 2023. When children are affected, that's a red line."
Alulidi added: "If they don't receive the education they deserve, there will still be what they call 'the wild Negev' in another 200 years. How will there be progress if there isn't even a school? Children need their education to grow well and not become frustrated."
The Neve Midbar Regional Council said in a statement: "The drivers of students in the three communities, Bir Hadaj, Avda, and Wadi al-Na'am, unexpectedly stopped their work, and on Sunday they did not transport about 6,500 students in protest of their alleged non-payment since February 2023."
"The council has been in discussions with the Education Ministry for a long time to allocate the transportation budgets, but the ministry insists on delaying the budget transfer for specific route inspections. From the council's perspective, there is no problem in conducting all the inspections, but it is immediately required to transfer the budgets that are due to operate the transportation without disruptions."
From the Education Ministry said in a statement that: "The matter is known and is being handled by the relevant experts in the ministry."