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Each school year, parents are required to declare the medical condition of their children in schools and kindergartens, by filling out a health declaration form. For the current school year (2022-2023), the Ministry of Education decided to change the means of filling out and submitting health declaration forms to an online format that would replace the standard manual form that had previously been used, yet the Ministry didn’t bother to translate the online form into Arabic.
Attorney Gadeer Nicola, appealed to the Ministry of Education demanding translation of the online form. The appeal notes:
“The Ministry of Education's technological stride in shifting to an online form, intends to save time and personnel in carrying out this function. Yet, unfortunately, the ministry overlooked a significant portion of students and parents in the education system, namely the Arab students who make up approximately 25% of the students in the system, and whose mother tongue, as with the language of instruction in their schools, is Arabic. Failure to translate the digital form for Arabic speakers violates the fundamental rights of Arab students and their parents to equality, health, and respect. The Ministry of Education, like any administrative authority, has the duty to provide equitable services for all national citizens and residents, and is obliged to provide those services clearly and accessibly. The Arabic language is an official national language alongside the Hebrew language, and is the mother tongue of nearly one fifth of the country's citizens."