Lotem Perry-Hazzan discusses ethnic discrimination in admissions to Haredi schools in Israel
Haredi education has been dominated by the Ashkenazic Haredi Independent Education school network since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. During the 1980s the Sephardic Haredi community established its own school network so as to avoid the discriminatory practices of the Ashkenazi-dominated schools. However, many Sephardic Haredi parents have preferred not to send their children to the Sephardic Haredi schools, which are perceived by these parents as less prestigious. Over the last decade, the issue of discriminatory admission policies to Haredi schools has been extensively deliberated in secular courts. The presentation will discuss the legal efforts to eradicate the discrimination in Haredi schools and account to their social and political implications. It will present, inter alia, an empirical study that demonstrated how policy changes prompted Sephardic Haredi parents to claim their rights.
Dr. Lotem Perry-Hazan is Head of the Centre for Jewish and Democratic Education and the Educational Management Program at the University of Haifa, Israel. Her research interests include the intersection of law, religion, and culture in education and children’s rights in education. Many of her studies have focused on Haredi education in Israel and in other countries. Dr. Perry-Hazan is a graduate of NYU School of Law (LL.M., 2006) and the University of Haifa’s Faculty of Law (LL.B., 2004; Ph.D., 2011). She was a visiting scholar at the European Association for Education Law and Policy at Antwerp University (2012), Harvard University Graduate School of Education (2014), and Melbourne University Faculty of Education (2018).
