Shock in the ultra-Orthodox community in Antwerp: The High Constitutional Court of Belgium sent a written notice to the lawyers representing the Haredi community in Antwerp, announcing that it is rejecting the petition filed against the new law, which requires Libah studies and the administration of exams for students of non-official institutions.
At the same time, the court upheld the Minister of Education's decision not to enforce the law at the end of the current school year, due to the institution administrators' claim that there is not enough time to prepare the children for the LIBA exams.
About two weeks ago, representatives of the city's ultra-Orthodox community appeared at the High Constitutional Court in Brussels to express the community's position on the issue of LIBA studies - civics, mathematics, and languages - that the local government is seeking to impose on ultra-Orthodox institutions in Belgium. This was after the Belgian Ministry of Education decided in a precedent-setting decision to enact a law that also requires educational institutions that are not officially recognized by the Ministry of Education to teach general studies.
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According to the decision, every student who is not studying in a recognized school must pass a comprehensive test at the end of the year on the course material he studied on his own, and if it turns out that the student has not achieved sufficient achievements, the Ministry of Education may place the student in an educational system as it sees fit.
It is worth noting that the law was enacted to solve the problem of gypsy children and children of foreign immigrants, whose parents reported that they were going to school, but in reality they were wandering the streets and degenerating into crime. However, as a result, the law also directly affects students in ultra-Orthodox institutions.
Usually, when filing an appeal, the parties submit their position in writing, but in special cases the court may request to hear the parties in person. As mentioned, about two weeks ago, representatives of the community, led by the rabbis, appeared in the courtroom and explained why the Haredi community opposes the implementation of the law.
The ultra-Orthodox community, which even threatened that families with school-age children would be forced to leave the country if the law was imposed on them, held emergency meetings and called for "breaking the conspiracy." However, the court has now decided, as mentioned, to reject the petition.
Now it only remains to be seen how the ultra-Orthodox residents of Belgium will deal with the educational problem that has been imposed on them.
