Report on the Islamic Industrial Orphans' Home Institution

·       Some may say... that we as Palestinians... face an existential ordeal, as a result of the operations of genocide and ethnic cleansing... committed over past decades... and continuing at the hands of the Israeli occupation — army, settlers and politicians..... in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.. since every Palestinian has become a target anywhere in this world, especially after we listened to the speech of the perpetrator of genocide, the Prime Minister of the Zionist entity.. and saw the shameful picture displayed by the American Congress with the members of its two chambers present, in the form of lavish welcome for the war criminal, and we were shocked to see the members of both chambers standing and applauding, at a rate of every minute of his speech... as an indicator of this body’s embrace — called the house of democracy in the world — and its agreement with and endorsement of every text of Netanyahu’s false speech..!.. but we record our respect for all the members who were absent from attendance, and there are many.. and our respect for all the actions taken by groups of segments of American society, including Jews.. in protest of the visit of the Prime Minister of the Zionist entity ..and in support of Gaza..... but the disgrace, absolute disgrace, is on the Arab partners of this criminal, for they — how much more contemptible they are!

·       Some of us say, why pay attention to audit reports at this time.. regarding public work and public money in Palestine, while we are in this deteriorating situation... but I firmly believe that the seriousness of corruption, irresponsibility, and lack of transparency in the performance of some officials and employees in public work.. is no less painful than our suffering... as Palestinians in many ways!

·       For example, and as stated in the SAACB’s latest 2023 report, the financial and administrative condition of the Islamic Industrial Orphans’ Home institution... raises concern and fear of the risk of losing the sanctity, trustworthiness and purity of responsibility in some bodies, institutions, and schools, such as orphan centers, and of failing to achieve the interests of this segment of people... who have in this world nothing but finding someone to take their hand, in this homeland, to the shore of safety, reassurance and real care, . Our institutions and centers of our national responsibilities will be exposed to weakness, chaos and loss of justice....!

·       A person who follows the SAACB’s annual reports is struck with shock and astonishment, through the existence of violations, shortcomings, irresponsibility, and indifference, in several centers of responsibility across the sectors subject to the Bureau’s oversight, including the economy sector, governance and security and other sectors..... and the citizen’s anger and bewilderment increase, when some of these centers and bodies concern groups in Palestinian society such as the orphanage.

·       We list below some of these recurring violations (according to the Bureau’s report) regarding the Islamic Industrial Orphans’ Home institution, for example:

·       There is no strategic plan and no annual future plans at the Islamic Industrial Orphans’ Home institution, and the percentage of orphan students did not exceed 7% of the school students for the year 2022-2023, in addition to the absence of orphan students in the school below the fourth grade of basic education, and the percentage of industrial-track students does not exceed 12% of the total number of school students, despite it being an industrial school!

·       The Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs did not prepare the regulations necessary to organize the management of the affairs of orphanages, and the absence of governance in the institution’s work contributed to taking many decisions and procedures that led to increasing the challenges facing the institution, including granting exemptions without legal basis, accumulation of the institution’s debts without efforts to collect them, and changing many job titles of the institution’s employees in a way that does not serve the institution’s objectives.

·       There is no proper planning in managing the available human resources for the school, as the Bureau reserves its position on the data provided to it regarding the weekly lesson allotment for teachers of the Orphans’ Home school, and there is no follow-up or oversight of the school’s work affiliated with the Orphans’ Home institution by the Ministry of Endowments, in addition to the absence of anything indicating that the Ministry of Endowments followed up on the school’s work to ensure its compliance with the instructions issued by the Ministry of Education, which regulates the work of private schools in both their academic and administrative aspects.

·       As for the administrative teaching body: the institution formed an administrative body for it in violation of the law, and the administrative body set and changed the values of school tuition fees without a clear and specific mechanism for calculating the tuition value, in addition to the absence of anything proving that any prior approvals were obtained from the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs regarding the tuition value and its changes.

·       And on the subject of exemptions, the exemptions, the value of the exemptions granted by the Orphans’ Home institution – Al-Eizariya branch – to the children of employees in the Ministry of Endowments and the institution, and others, amounted to 418,287 shekels during the period 2017-2023! As for the debts due to the institution, it was observed the accumulation of debts on students, that is for school tuition fees for previous and current years, where the total debts due from students amounted to: 1,171,643 shekels, of which 856,818 shekels are due from current students in the school during the period 2017-2022, and the remaining amount, which is 314,825 shekels, is due from students who left the school, noting that the debts due to the institution from others include unpaid tuition before 2017, which are unknown and there is nothing proving their value!

·       As for student privileges, it was observed that 18 students registered as social cases in the school’s records received all the privileges granted to orphan students... and the social cases represented: (tuition exemption, sponsorship allowance, transportation allowance, daily expense allowance, and housing service), without anything proving that the aforementioned beneficiaries are registered as social cases with the Ministry of Social Development, and without supporting documents at the school regarding their social statuses! The Bureau found that the error rate in the institution’s data related to social cases reached 70% and accordingly, the Bureau reserves its position on the data of beneficiary students and does not express an opinion as to whether the remaining students of the school, numbering 593 students for the 2022-2023 academic year, benefited or did not benefit from all the privileges granted by the institution to orphan students and students registered as social cases!

·       The report also addressed the institution’s employee files, where it was observed the continuation of paying the Jerusalem allowance to some employees who were transferred and assigned to work outside the institution, in addition to not adjusting the transportation allowance paid to them based on their transfer locations, and regarding the changes to job titles that the institution made for 24 employees in 2022, it was noted that they did not take into account the public interest of the institution, but rather served the employees’ interests, and what proves that is that these changes... led to the closure of some sections in the institution, the existence of a surplus in certain job titles, and violation of the job formation table as they were made exceptionally! It was noted that the institution’s revenues and expenditures, and its accounting records, showed weakness and shortcomings in control and oversight procedures!

·       In my opinion, the SAACB should refer reports on institutions like this one, when they do not comply with the Bureau’s observations and recommendations to rectify their situation within a prescribed period, to higher levels of responsibility and seriousness, to take a decision to hold the violators accountable, and there are many of them!