AMIT WOMEN INC

Earning a coveted bagrut diploma in Israel, the high school certification necessary to go on to university and to succeed in most professions, is not easy. Given that averages of just 53 percent of Israel?s 12th graders earn a bagrut each year, demand for quick fixes is high. There have been no magic remedies for helping students succeed. But the pedagogy staff of the AMIT Network has taken a long-term approach, investing time and resources into each student. So rather than accept pre-packaged programs created by others, AMIT created a bagrut-achievement system of its own: Project 80 (Tochnit Shmonim). Started two years ago, and phasing into various schools gradually, Project 80 aims for at least 80 percent of the students at every AMIT school to earn a bagrut diploma, regardless of how disadvantaged they may be, or however hopeless they may feel. Because of the implementation of Project 80, the average at all AMIT schools has been raised. In just one year, the percentage of AMIT students who obtain the diploma has risen by 8%. There are certain schools that have shown even more dramatic increases. The AMIT Wurzweiler Agricultural and Technological Junior and Senior High School in Petach Tikvah, for example, raised its matriculation rate by an impressive 27%.

The impact of passing bagrut exams has enormous importance for the future of an Israeli youngster. The bagrut is the key to success in Israeli society. It opens the door to service in a high ranking army unit, to entrance to the university system at every level, and to the job market. It is very difficult to succeed in Israeli society without a bagrut diploma from high school.

AMIT maintains a network of 10 schools, from kindergarten through senior high school, in Beersheva, serving some 4,000 students. These schools range from a technological ?last chance? high school for students who have failed in every other educational environment to a junior/senior high school that has graduated international science competition winners and is rated among the best high schools in the State of Israel.

A significant proportion of the AMIT students in Beersheva come from families living at or below poverty level and would have great difficulty obtaining a quality education were it not for the educational opportunities provided by AMIT. Additionally, AMIT has developed special curriculum and special services geared towards the large numbers of Ethiopian students it successfully educates in its schools and programs. There are schools in Israel that will not accept Ethiopian students because they require so many special services; they are warmly welcomed at AMIT. The Dina and Moses Dyckman Ulpanat AMIT, for example, makes it possible for disadvantaged high school girls to get a religious education they may not have been able to afford if they had to pay for a similar school outside Beersheva.. And even though about half the 500 member student body comes from financially troubled families, the dropout level is virtually nil. The AMIT Junior and Senior High School is helping the many struggling Beersheva parents who send their children there. They are being given an opportunity to excel ? not by lowering standards to make up for their socioeconomic difficulties, but by setting the bar higher. This also makes it easier for the students to go to college and develop a good career, which could, in turn, keep them from becoming mired in second-generation poverty. Against all odds, the school ranks among the highest in the country in the most difficult bagrut (matriculation exam) level for physics, chemistry, biology and computers. And while the country as a whole is doing poorly on international tests of students' scientific ability, it is the students of AMIT Beersheva, says physics teacher Victor Melamud, who have gotten Israel into seventh place in First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics, a prestigious international competition for high school students doing research projects in physics.

Hundreds of rockets have been launched at Sderot since Israel?s disengagement from Gaza in September 2005, and the attacks intensified in the spring of 2007. Though inaccurate, the Qassams sow fear and terror and are capable of considerable damage and injury. From the time the alert sounds, it is a matter of 30 seconds before the rocket hits. The AMIT Network has five schools in Sderot, with an enrollment of almost 2,000 students from kindergarten through high school. Every school has a bomb shelter and additional concrete shelters have been erected in the school playgrounds. AMIT facilities have sustained damage from direct hits by Qassam rockets; our students have been seriously injured, and siblings and parents killed. AMIT is determined to do its part to support the citizens of Sderot, and has been a steady presence in the life of the city and its children. AMIT?s principals and teachers in Sderot are in regular contact, via both phone and by personal visits, with all parents and students. Psychologists have been helping students whenever necessary. In 2004 we launched a Campaign for Sderot to raise funds for special services and activities so essential for these children and young people. We were determined that the terrorists would not rob our students of their chance at academic success and a better future. Extra tutorials and study sessions have been added to help children keep up with their school work under these difficult circumstances. High school students have been bused to Beersheva and other Israeli cities so they could study for their all-important bagrut (matriculation) exams in a quiet and stable environment. Special activities, such as arts and crafts and music, have been organized to keep the younger children calm. Trips for our students, as well as our faculty and their families, have taken them out of the city to AMIT facilities in other communities where they can relax and enjoy some time away from the daily stress of life in Sderot. Psychological counseling has been provided when necessary; our faculty keeps in touch with every AMIT family in Sderot.

Despite constant rocket attacks, often on a daily basis, AMIT is making every effort to ensure that the children of Sderot can continue their education and develop as normally as possible. High school students are passing their exams and children are getting an education, no mean feat under the threat of daily rocket attacks.

The five AMIT technological high schools ? two in Jerusalem, one each in Ashkelon, Beersheva and Ramle ? are designed for youngsters who have failed in every other educational environment. Often they have dropped out or been expelled from their other schools. The AMIT technological high school is their ?last chance? to complete their high school education and start on the road towards a productive adult life.

Youngsters who would be ?lost,? and either end up as criminals, prostitutes, living on the streets or worse are instead nurtured, counseled, taught vocational subjects such as automotive electricity, furniture design, computerized office management, and graduate with diplomas in these subjects. They go on to serve in the Israel Defense Forces and become valuable and productive citizens.

AMIT maintains two well known facilities for children in foster care, AMIT Frisch Beit Hayeled in Jerusalem and the youth village of Kfar Blatt in Petach Tikvah. AMIT Frisch Beit Hayeled is a child haven and home to about 115 children who live in dormitories. Beit Hayeled meets all the children?s physical, educational and emotional needs. A dedicated staff of administrators, counselors, psychologists and social workers serves the children. An art clinic and a music clinic are on site. At the youth village of Kfar Blatt, there is a unique dormitory set-up, pioneered by AMIT, called the mishpachton. The mishpachton is composed of a married couple and several students who live together as a family in separate living quarters. The youngsters at Kfar Blatt are students in grades 9 through 12. Many spent their younger years in AMIT Beit Hayeled Kfar Blatt also has social workers, a psychologist and other staff on site.

Children and youngsters who are seriously at risk are raised in an atmosphere of love and caring and are provided with all their needs. They receive counseling, medical care, a quality education and everything needed to raise a normal and healthy child. One study indicated that 92 per cent of the graduates of AMIT Frisch Beit Hayeled had succeeded in escaping their family?s cycle of crime and violence and had continued their studies after army service.