Some 24,000 teenagers dropped out of Israeli schools in 2013, but only about 11,500 of those dropouts are being helped by the authorities, the Education Ministry's supervisor for the advancement of teenagers, Ilan Shemesh, said on Tuesday. Shemesh said that while the school dropout rate in general has declined in recent years, it has risen sharply among the ultra-Orthodox. Students drop out for a range of reasons, among them economic hardships and strained relations with their parents. Shemesh said budget shortfalls were compromising the ministry's efforts to attend to the dropouts. According to the Social Affairs and Social Services Ministry, probation officers had to deal with 16,000 students in 2013 over some 24,000 offenses, 40 percent of which involved violence. The government also released information on Tuesday on alcohol consumption among teenagers. Dr. Yossi Harel-Fisch, the chief scientist at the Israel Anti-Drug Authority, who also works for the World Health Organization, reported the findings of a comprehensive study of some 7,000 teenagers between the ages of 11 and 15, conducted from the early 1990s until late 2012. The study did not include haredi schools. According to the survey, while in 1994 only 6% of students consumed large quantities of alcohol, in late 2012, that figure rose to 21%. Harel-Fisch said parents are partly to blame. Parents send the wrong message: that people need chemical substances to succeed or be happy," he said. According to the Israel Police, between 2001 and 2013 seven homicide cases had a victim and suspect who were both minors. Three underage suspects were sentenced and imprisoned. Rights of the Child Committee Chairwoman MK Orly Levy-Abekasis (Likud Beytenu) reacted to the new statistics on Tuesday, saying that "violence has made inroads in our schools, and the age of the perpetrators has dropped. The public is concerned and feels threatened. The government must evaluate which programs work and which do not."
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שיתוף כתבה
One in 5 Israeli youths drink alcohol regularly, study finds
Some 21% of Israeli children ages 11 to 15 drink regularly, up from 6% in 1994 • Parents send the wrong message, says chief scientist • And 24,000 teens dropped out of school in 2013, less than half of whom were later helped by authorities.