British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume II - Page 672

CHAPTER XVI.

Meetings of the Council are also attended by the following nonvoting members:-

3 Chief Inspectors, one from each Trend;

1 representative from the Government Department of •Education.

This Council, which until 1928 was in control of the schools of the Palestine Zionist Executive (now the Jewish Agency), is now a consultative body, dealing with pedagogic matters only. It has been convened only twice in the last year.

103. The School. Councils. The Code provides that each Trend shall have a School Council composed as follows :-

the Chief Inspector for the Trend concerned (Chairman);

3 representatives of the Va'ad Leumi, being members of the Executive Education Committee and the Va'ad Hahinnukh for that Trend;

2 representatives of the Parents' Committees, one of whom shall be from a rural area;

3 representatives of the teachers, one of them being a member of the Va'ad Hahinnukh,

The Council has considerable powers in the administration of the schools of its own Trend, in particular as regards :-

(a) drawing up and revision of syllabuses;

(b) recommending appointment and dismissal of inspectors and teachers.

104. The Va'ad Leumi Department of Education. This comprises the Director, 7 General inspectors, 4 Mizrahi inspectors, 4 Labour inspectors, and 6 inspectors of special subjects, besides a general administrative and clerical staff.

The term "Department of Education" is also used in a more restricted sense to denote a small committee, consisting of the Director and the 3 Chief Inspectors, one for each Trend, which deals with all routine matters in accordance with principles laid down by the Va'ad Leumi or the Executive Education Committee. The Code of 1940 provides for the appointment of a Deputy Director, who shall also be a member of the above committee; but no such appointment has yet been made.

On all matters which concern the schools of one of the three Trends, the Director is obliged to consult the Chief Inspector concerned before taking a decision; and the Chief Inspector has the right to appeal against his decision to the Executive Education Committee.

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