ORT Bulletin: Organization for Rehabilitation Through Training, January- February 1959 Page: 4
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The Future of Israel's Trade Schools
THE CHALLENGE
by Simcha Pratt
Israel Consul General in N. Y.
L AM delighted to hear that you are
expanding your activities in Israel.
But let me put you on notice that in
the next year, and two and three years,
you will have to expand still further.
There are two reasons. In the first
place, one of those miracles that has
been adding to us since 1948, is hap-
pening again. Yet another country in
Eastern Europe has opened its gate
1-aMACHINIST IN TRAINING on a metal mil-
ling machine at the ORT Vocational Cen-
ter. Givatayim. Israel.
to Jews who want to leave. We can
expect in the course of 1959 an influx
of 100,000 Jews from Eastern Europe.
That involves many serious problems.
It will require serious funds to finance
these newcomers into the social and
economic life in the country. In this
respect, we shall have to rely on world
Jewry to help us because Israelis are
not able to stand the financial strain.
And in this respect I think ORT
will again have to play an important
role because many of the children of
these people will need technical educa-
tion. They will be able to get vocational
training in the ORT schools.
The Long Range Outlook
The second reason why I believe
ORT activities will have to be ex-
panded in Israel is because we are
going to place increasing emphasis on
the industrialization of the country.
There is a limit to the agricultural ex-
4On January 16th, 1949, the newly established Israel ORT committee held its first
meeting in Tel Aviv and agreed to launch a program of vocational schools and courses ~
based on a report presented by Dr. Aron Syngalowski, the late chairman of the World
ORT Union executive committee. Dr. Syngalowski had formulated the general principles
which were to guide the development of ORT in Israel.
First classes were opened a few weeks later in a converted Arab factory in Jaffa.
That first year, in 1949, 37 schools and courses were set up. They enrolled 1.315 students,
many of them demobilized and wounded soldiers of the War for Independence.
During the intervening decade, ORT in Israel gave vocational training to 20,671
persons.
Indicative of the present state of the Israel network is the enrollment in 1958 of
8,264. Altogether during 1958, there were 98 schools and courses in the Israel ORT
system
This is where the program stands today, poised to assume the tasks of the second
decade. On these pages are published extracts of reports made at the January 18th con-
ference concerning the problems ahead.pansion of Israel. There are only 8,000
square miles and in the next few years
we shall reach the limit of our agri-
cultural potential. We shall have to
concentrate more and more on the
establishment of new industries.
When it comes to industries, of
course, there is no limit to expansion
provided you have the know-how, the
technical manpower, and the capital.
We certainly look to ORT to provide
ri with the second of these conditions,
d that is technical power.
And so we are looking forward with
greatt expectations towards the further
xtension of ORT activities in Israel.
We wish you the best of luck in your
blessed undertaking.
THE PROBLEMS
by Ernest Stock
Consultant on Overseas Studies
Council of Jewish Federations and
Welfare Funds
T HERE are three main types of
vocational training in Israel to-
day. One is the training, or retrain-
ing, of adults, which is made necessary
by the particular quality of the immi-
gration-the large proportion of un-
skilled workers among it. This is the
main responsibility of the government
through the Ministry of Labor, which
is putting these people through rela-
tively short courses in seventeen cen-
ters catering to about 8,000 adults a
year.
The second type is the apprentice-
ship program which very wisely makes
use of the opportunity that exists in
Israel's industrial plant for training
young people on the job. Here, too,the Ministry of Labor has the prime
responsibility for administering the ap-
prenticeship law, which so far covers
some 7,000 apprentices in six trades.
Key to Training System
The third type is vocational educa-
tion proper which constitutes the core
of the ORT program in Israel, name-
ly vocational training in secondary
schools , in vocational high schools.
This type has a special place in the
overall scheme of things. . . .
From the Pun.ly ecfmml(I -
type of program is the keystone in the
overall training process when it comes
to meeting the need of the economy
for highly skilled craftsmen. It is in
the carefully planned setting of the
schools, with the most qualified in-
structors and incorporating the latest
techniques in each field, and reaching
the age group that is most receptive
and adaptable, that the learning
process will show the optimum result.
Place of ORT
This program is the backbone of
ORT in Israel, and the ORT system
now constitutes the backbone of the
overall vocational education system
in Israel. The importance, both nu-
merically of the ORT schools and
the type of standards set by ORT in
its training, has increased from year
to year.
While the Government has a super-
visory and inspecting and coordinat-
ing function in the vocational educa-
tion field, the actual operating and
financing of these programs is in the
hands of voluntary agencies. In addi-
tion to ORT, there is the Histadrut
with its Amal system of schools, there
is Hadassah with some very fine111111 - 111111 11110 M-
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ORT Bulletin. ORT Bulletin: Organization for Rehabilitation Through Training, January- February 1959, periodical, 1959; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1496614/m1/4/?rotate=270: accessed July 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rosenberg Library.