East Jerusalem schools open amid teacher-permit dispute

Private and Christian schools in East Jerusalem suspended classes as the 2026-27 academic year began, after school authorities said more than 70 West Bank-based teachers, administrators and support staff did not receive renewed entry permits.

Israel’s Ministry of Education calendar lists September 1, 2026, as the start of the school year for official and recognized non-state education. The General Secretariat for Christian Educational Institutions in Jerusalem declared an open-ended strike, saying the staffing shortfall made a safe and stable opening impossible.

The dispute has left families facing uncertainty over class schedules, teacher availability and the operation of administrative, health, cleaning and security services.

Schools cite sudden staffing losses

The Christian education secretariat said permits were not renewed for more than 70 members of its educational, administrative and support staff. School representatives told Al Jazeera and The Jerusalem Post that the decision came without sufficient warning and prevented schools from preparing normally for the academic year.

The permit account is a claim by the education secretariat and school officials, not an independently established finding that Israel intentionally banned the teachers. Their stated practical concern was that too many staff members could not reach East Jerusalem to open classrooms and maintain basic school operations.

Israel contests that account. The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, cited by The Times of Israel, said the claim that dozens of teachers lacked permits was incorrect and that all staff members eligible for permits had received them after security and eligibility reviews.

A separate dispute over classroom instruction

The strike also coincided with a curriculum dispute. Al Jazeera reported that new first- and seventh-grade classes in Palestinian-majority municipal schools in East Jerusalem were directed to use the Israeli curriculum.

That report does not establish that every East Jerusalem school has changed its curriculum. The reported instruction concerns new classes in some Palestinian-majority municipal schools, while the private and Christian schools involved in the strike have focused publicly on staffing and access permits.

For families, the curriculum question is practical as well as political. Changes in instructional materials can affect lesson planning, textbooks, examinations and continuity for students moving between schools. The permit dispute creates a separate risk: classes may be delayed or reorganized if schools cannot replace absent teachers and support staff.

UN documents wider education-access pressure

A September 11 report from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs places the East Jerusalem dispute within broader education-access problems across the West Bank. OCHA said approximately 846,000 students began the school year amid movement restrictions and other disruptions. Its account identifies September 6 as the start of the 2026-27 school year across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, while noting that some Israeli education schedules began earlier.

OCHA said six UNRWA schools in East Jerusalem remained closed. It also reported that 84 schools across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, remained under pending demolition or stop-work orders, affecting 12,855 students and 1,076 teachers.

Those figures do not independently confirm the private-school strike or the reported number of unrenewed permits. They do show that access to school buildings, staff and regular classes remains an active problem for students in the wider area.

What happens next

The immediate questions are whether the disputed permits will be restored, whether the schools will end the strike and whether the curriculum instructions will be challenged, changed or expanded.

Until those issues are resolved, the effects will be felt in ordinary school operations: delayed classes, teacher shortages, disrupted administration and uncertainty for families trying to plan the academic year.

Sources

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