Two haredi girls seminaries, one affiliated with the Gur (Gerrer; Ger) hasidic movement, are refusing to give graduates their full academic records or transcripts. Instead, the girls are given the equivalent of a diploma only. This illegally stops the girls from enrolling in institutions of higher learning like colleges and universities. And until forced by a potential lawsuit, the Government of Israel turned a blind eye.
Based on a report in Walla! News, the haredi news website Kikar HaShabbat is reporting that two haredi girls seminaries, one affiliated with the Gur (Gerrer; Ger) hasidic movement, are refusing to give graduates their full academic records or transcripts. Instead, the girls are given the equivalent of a diploma only. This illegally stops the girls from enrolling in institutions of higher learning like colleges and universities.
In theory, the girls might be allowed to get their transcripts and other data on a case by case basis as the need arises, but that practice means haredi rabbis will immediately know which girls are trying to go to college. The rabbis can then use communal pressure and pressure on the girls' families to stop them.
Israel's none-too-attentive Education Ministry (others, with good reason, would say it is corrupt) accepted the schools' claims that the withholding of the transcripts and other data was caused by a "technical problem," claimed the schools were working that out, and claimed it would keep an eye on the schools' progress in resolving the problem– but only after Naor K'halakha, a nonprofit representing the wronged girls, threatened to sue.
[Hat Tip: Marty Bluke.]