Beit Berl students receiving their scholarships from ESRA

"Students Build a Community" project in Kfar Saba is nearing the completion of its first year. Patterned after the existing program in Netanya, the Kfar Saba project is sponsored by the Kfar Saba municipality, Beit Berl College and ESRA, with other smaller foundations also participating.

 Each of the seven Beit Berl College students in the program are tutoring three or four pupils in the fifth and sixth grades, with the "Outdoor Challenge" group being from grades seven, eight and nine. The pupils are from the Ofira Navon and Remez Schools in the Kaplan and Yoseftal neighborhoods of Kfar Saba. They were selected by their teachers as needing help both in their academic and social skills. The college students live in the same two areas of the city and so are neighbors of their young charges, who come to their tutors' apartments for the study sessions. The students commit to giving six hours per week to the program and, in return, each receives a 10,000 shekels a year stipend, which is provided by ESRA. They spend four hours per week tutoring the pupils and two hours in social activities, which sometimes involve other family members as well as the wider community. There are also meetings and training sessions for the students. Of this year's seven tutors, five will continue next year and we hope to add an additional five, bringing the total to ten.

The pupils' families have been enthusiastic supporters of the program, as have been their teachers and the children themselves. The program has been supervised by Ms. Tamar Berger-Yaakov, who has also been in charge of the Netanya project since its inception. Tamar will be leaving us shortly to begin her new career as a mother. She has been an inspiration and the moving force behind the project, injecting her energy, enthusiasm and creative ideas into the group as well as working with the sponsoring bodies to see that no problems arise. We are now interviewing several candidates to replace her for next year.

We in ESRA Kfar Saba want to thank Tamar for the exceptional work she has done in getting this complex program up and running so successfully and wish her the best of luck in the challenge awaiting her.

We look forward to watching the program grow and are proud of the part that ESRA is playing in improving the lives of these young children, and helping them to be better equipped to become contributing members of their community and their country in the future.

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About the author

Gert Goldstein

Gert came on Aliyah in 1976 from Philadelphia, USA. She has a BA in English literature and almost completed her Masters in teaching. She has worked in Family Planning and Development and Public Relat...
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