The Knesset State Control Committee has decided that Holocaust education trips to Poland for Israeli high-school students should be further subsidized in an effort to help more students from financially strapped backgrounds participate in the trip. The committee decided that, starting this year, the Education Ministry, in cooperation the Union of Local Authorities in Israel, would allocate NIS 50 million ($13 million) toward the initiative.
The committee decided to tackle the issue regarding the trips in light of reports issued by the State Comptroller. The committee's chairman MK Roni Bar-On (Kadima) said, "The Education Ministry took to this issue in a serious, swift, and efficient manner. All the deficiencies identified by the State Comptroller's report were addressed. The recruiting efforts made by the education ministry to better support student participation on the Poland trips should be praised."
MK Robert Tiviaev (Kadima) said that according to his assessment, no student from the city of Ofakim participated in Holocaust education trips to Poland last year. The mayor of Upper Nazareth, Shimon Gapso, made the suggestion that Israel's state lottery should also play a part in the initiative to expand accessibility to the educational trips.
"Annually, between 100 to 150 students out of a 400-member grade level participate in the educational Poland trips. Under my authority the municipality has been able to multiply the amount of support geared toward the program five times over. Recruitment numbers among those that participated in the program was also able to be increased," said Gapso.
Holocaust Survivor Mordechai Hareli stressed that the significance of the students' trips to Poland lies in the increased awareness it creates regarding anti-Semitism, which youth living in Israel are not that familiar with.
Participation on such trips costs NIS 5,400 ($1,400) per student. Students whose family income is less than NIS 1,600 ($420) average per family member per month will now be eligible for a governmental subsidy totaling 70 percent of the trip's cost. Families with an income of less than NIS 2,100 ($550) average per family member per month will be granted a governmental subsidy of 45% toward the trip.
Families earning an income where the average is NIS 2,800 ($730) per family member per month will be able to receive a subsidy covering 30%, while families making in excess of NIS 3,100 ($800) average per family member per month will not be eligible for financial support, other than for exceptional cases where a special review committee will be convened.
Sa'ar insisted, "Educational trips to Poland represent one of the most valued educational initiatives, and for that reason we will expand and strengthen it. Most of the students who participate in the trips point to a greater identification with Jewish history, a discovery of national pride, and a sense of a mutually shared fate. They come to understand the significance of the state of Israel for the Jewish people, and the meaning of anti-Semitism."
אחרי המחאות הפרו-פלשתיניות: טראמפ מבטל מענקים בסך מאות מיליונים לאוניברסיטת קולומביה
אביו של מתן אנגרסט מגיב לאות החיים: "אנחנו עושים הכל, התפקיד שלך הוא להצליח לשרוד"
פרסומת | יכולים על דור ה-Z?
יותר מ-50 שורדי שבי לנתניהו: "חזרה ללחימה מסכנת את חיי החטופים, ממש את העסקה"
דיווח: טראמפ העלה טענות בנוגע לחלוקת השליטה באגמים הגדולים בגבול קנדה ארצות הברית