Palestinian schoolteachers in Hebron held their classes in the road, on Wednesday morning, after Israeli soldiers barred them and their students from reaching their schools.
The teachers taught their pupils “in the openâ€Â, while soldiers insisted on barring them from crossing in an attempted to disrupt teaching sessions.
Mohammad Omran Al Qawasmi, head of the Ministry Of Education in Hebron, told the IMEMC that the two schools, Al Faiha’ school for Girls, and the Ibrahimi School for Boys, in the old city of Hebron, are located near the Ibrahimi Mosque, in an area which is continually surrounded by the army.
Soldiers searched schoolbags and forced the children to lift their shirts after stopping them at the checkpoint, which is equipped with “high-tech equipmentâ€Â, which includes metal detectors and an X-Ray scannerâ€Â.
“We are determined to resume the educational process in spite of the military provocations. The army installed electronic gates during the summer holiday, and equipped them with X-Ray machinesâ€Â, Al Qawasmi stated, “They wanted to force the students, and teachers, including pregnant teachers to go through these X-Ray search roomâ€Â.
The school day was suspended at the two schools for the second day as a result of these Israeli procedures, while the teachers gave some classes near the checkpoints.
Dozens of students protested against the military procedures and carried slogans which read: “We have the right to learnâ€Â, and “We have the right to be able to reach our schoolsâ€Â.
On Tuesday, soldiers fired gas bombs and rubber-coated bullets at the students who protested near the checkpoints.
Also, Al Qawasmi told the IMEMC correspondent that the students always arrive late to school as a result of the military checkpoints and procedures, and are forced to stand in the street until they are allowed to pass regardless of the weather conditions, which endangers their health.
