The Education Ministry recently sent letters to recognized,
unofficial educational institutions saying that license and
license renewal requests for the educational institutions
should include a declaration by an engineer or architect that
the structure meets all planning and construction laws,
including any relevant permit or easement.
The Forum of Educational Organizations and Institutions
commissioned Atty. David Glass to file a claim that the
demand is unreasonable and has no precedent in the annals of
the School Inspection Law. Atty. Glass claims that according
to Paragraph 5 of the law the Education Ministry routinely
sends a copy of the licensing request to several entities for
recommendations, including the local planning and
construction committee, and if they do not object the
Education Ministry has no apparent reason to demand a further
declaration by an engineer or architect.
Furthermore the School Inspection Law states that even if the
local planning and construction committee objects to granting
the license, the Education Ministry is authorized to override
the objection (which is not the case if the Health Ministry
raises objections). In the absence of objections, argues
Atty. Glass, the demand for a declaration makes no sense.
In a letter to the Education Ministry he notes that in recent
years the Ministry has compelled recognized, unofficial
institutions to meet stiffer licensing requirements that add
numerous expenses to their budgets. Glass says this policy
constitutes blatant discrimination since official
institutions are not required to obtain licenses
altogether.
"In light of the fact that health and safety defects which
pose a hazard to students' well-being are present at a
significant number of official schools," writes Atty. Glass,
"the new requirement just for recognized, unofficial
institutions seeking license renewals — after operating
for decades and regularly submitting all of the required
certificates — to provide a declaration is
unreasonable, to say the least."
After citing a series of examples of difficulties the
declaration creates, Atty. Glass writes that the new demand
is the outcome of an illegitimate policy designed to further
encumber recognized, unofficial institutions with
restrictions. The Forum is demanding that the requirement be
rescinded and in any case that license renewal requests be
accepted even without the declaration since the requests have
already been submitted.
Principals insist the requirement is untenable, saying, "What
engineer or architecture would agree to sign for a decades-
old building without examining all of the documents on it in
the building file at the local authority and then re-
assessing the structure to determine it fully conforms to the
planning and construction regulations? This is obviously an
expensive requirement."
If the new requirement is not rescinded, half of the
educational institutions in Bnei Brak and one-third of those
in Jerusalem could remain without facilities for the coming
school year since a substantial number of the educational
institutions in the city are housed in temporary, prefab
structures or converted residential buildings.
The Bnei Brak municipality says that on one hand the State
does not provide suitable schools for chareidi education, yet
when private bodies and associations raise money to locate
buildings the State heaps on obstacles and seeks ways to
disallow the use of the improvised facilities.
