An end to collecting 'registration fees' at Haredi seminars for girls? Haredi families with high school-age daughters have probably encountered a point where the potential seminary where their daughter might attend requires them to pay for registration.
Now, the Administrative Court in Lod has approved a class action lawsuit, on behalf of the parents of the students, against the Bnei Brak Municipality in relation to this collection.
The lawsuit was filed against the Noar Kahalacha association, headed by attorney Yoav Lalom, and by Shlomo Murciano, an ultra-Orthodox parent.
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According to the petition, the money was collected from the parents even when their daughters were not accepted into the seminary at all: "In the letters [the father] received, there was no reference to the registration fee," the petition states.
According to the petition, attorneys Reuven Biton and Yoav Lalom explained that there was difficulty in finding a class action plaintiff who would agree to stand at the forefront on issues related to Haredi education.
Lawyer Biton said that the association "received inquiries from parents who registered their daughters for secondary educational institutions in Mshiva, who were required to pay 50 shekels at the time of registration and were also required to pay an additional 100-150 shekels after their daughters were accepted, in order to complete the registration.".
The lawyers' words are confirmed by a request from Mazal (a pseudonym) - a Haredi mother, to the Haredim 10 website, who told of a similar process: "After my daughter was not accepted to the seminary in Jerusalem, apparently because of her Mizrahi origin, I called the principal and told her - 'I demand the registration fee back'. Have you no shame? She was not accepted, what is the registration fee for? What if you don't steal?"
The Bnei Brak municipality claimed in response to the petition: "The Ministry of Education allows the Haredi education stream to conduct admissions procedures for secondary educational institutions, including conducting internal suitability and screening tests before registration, several months before the start of the year.".
Therefore, they emphasize that, "in order to finance the exams, their implementation, and the remuneration of the teams that conduct them, the classes that wish to take the exam are required to finance the expenses of holding the exam.".
However, Administrative Court Judge Michal Nadav was not convinced and ruled that the material presented to her gave the impression that these were indeed registration fees - and in her words: "I am satisfied that the detailed procedures are registration procedures or admission procedures, as specified in the guidelines, and that the payments mentioned therein are ostensibly for these procedures.".
Among other things, it states: "Beit Yaakov Seminary, owned by the respondent, requires 50 shekels to continue the registration application process," and that "after acceptance, this seminary requires a cash payment of 150 shekels to 'complete the registration' and 'complete the registration process,' and further adds that failure to complete the registration, which includes a payment of 150 shekels, will result in the cancellation of the registration request... meaning that each of the above 10 payments is an integral part of the registration process.".
Following this, the NADAV decided to approve the request for a class action lawsuit, and charged the Bnei Brak municipality with fees for the representing attorney in the amount of 35,000 NIS.
