The Jerusalem District Court ruled to impose regional registration for two haredi (ultra-Orthodox) high schools for girls in the city of Elad this week, striking a blow against the discrimination of Sephardi haredi girls in Ashkenazi Haredi schools.

The regional registration solution is designed to eliminate the de facto quotas of 20% or 30% imposed by Ashkenazi haredi schools for Sephardi girls, according to activists.

This problem has occurred repeatedly in many Ashkenazi haredi girls schools around the country, including in Elad, and stems from racist motives, activists claim.

In the 2014/2015 school year, the Education Ministry, then under the direction of former Yesh Atid MK Shai Piron, intervened in the registration process due to a recurrence of the issue.

Following a legal petition by the Noar Ka’halacha activist group, the situation was eventually resolved for that particular year in an agreement between the Education Ministry and the Elad Municipal Authority, which included a stipulation that regional registration be used for the 2016/2017 school year and onward.

This agreement was given the imprimatur of a court decision, but Noar Ka’halacha found that regional registration had not been used despite this assurance and filed a motion with the courts to find the Elad Municipality in contempt of court.

That motion was granted on Monday, and Judge Nava Ben- Or ordered the Elad Municipal Authority to publish notices declaring that registration for the two high schools will be done on a regional basis for the 2017/2018 school year and onward.