Do the children of illegal immigrants in Israel have the right to an education? This question has been coming up with increasing frequency in southern Tel Aviv. The parents of children in several schools there have begun expressing opposition to the growing number of these children sharing the classroom with their own. They are asking that the Tel Aviv municipality send these children to other schools, preferably in Tel Aviv’s affluent northern neighborhoods.

This figure does not include the children born to this population in Israel. They are estimated to number about 2,500, the overwhelming majority of them in Tel Aviv. The city provides these children with a free education, Hebrew-language classes, psychological services, hot meals and more in schools designated specifically for these children.

In the city’s statistics for the last school year, approximately 2,120 children attended the four designated elementary schools. Another 200 children of asylum seekers attended regular schools with Israeli children.

The current unrest was sparked by the registration of eight children in the first grade at the Kfir school in southern Tel Aviv. Until now, the school had very few such students. Israeli parents kept their children home when classes began Sept. 1 and held demonstrations against Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai. The Israeli parents claim that they are not opposed to the presence of these children in the school per se, pointing out that the school already has 25 such children who live in the neighborhood. They oppose the transfer of students from another school district just because the children’s home district already has a high migrant population.