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Last update - 14:50 27/12/2007
State announces plan to aid at-risk youth in Arab towns
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Arabic, Yuli Tamir, Israel 

The Welfare Ministry announced Thursday that it would allocate NIS 400 million as part of a plan to aid at-risk youth with an emphasis placed on reaching out to Arab children.

According to the initiative, 32 percent of the youth who will receive aid are from the Arab sector. The plan also stipulates that local Arab municipalities will be exempt from funding the program.

Government regulations state that both Jewish and Arab local municipalities are required to provide funding for at least 25 percent of all state projects as a condition for the relevant ministry to supply the remaining three-fourths of the budget. Yet, Arab local authorities find that they are unable to afford the costs of these initiatives, depriving the Arab public of many government initiatives.
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Nahum Itzkowitz, the welfare ministry director-general, told a conference in Jaffa that the ministry is following a policy of budgetary leniency towards the Arab townships and municipalities by assuming a greater bulk of the funding for the ministry's aid programs.

All of Israel's local authorities are rated on a scale of one to 10 on the basis of their socio-economic standing, with 10 being the strongest. According to the scale, 90 percent of the local authorities ranging from one to four are Arab.

"We will aid these municipalities with every initiative and all nationwide plans so as to give a preference to the weaker sectors," Itzkowitz said.

Tamir announces reforms for schools in Arab sector
Education Minister Yuli Tamir announced on Thursday that the ministry intends to implement reforms in Arabic-language classes taught in the Israeli Arab school sector. Task forces have been set up in order to prepare new curriculums and teaching techniques.

"We have serious teaching failures in this area," Tamir said.

The task forces will deal with methodological questions regarding the manner in which Arabic should be taught to students, as well as how teachers should be trained.

The task forces will include not only officials from the Education Ministry but also education officials who work for the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee.

According to international tests taken this year, Hebrew-speaking fourth-graders are ranked eighth in the world in reading comprehension. On the other hand, Arab speaking fourth-graders are ranked 40th.

Speaking at a panel in Jaffa sponsored by the Abraham Fund, Tamir said that the gap between Hebrew and Arabic speakers is intolerable. She did however add that Israeli Arabs are still ranked higher than children from other Arab countries such as the Gulf States - where the education budgets are much higher.

With regard to the teaching of Arabic to Hebrew speakers, Tamir said that the ministry was currently examining the subject. Tamir said that she supports expanding the number of bilingual schools where Arabs and Jews learn both languages together.

Related articles:
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  • Shin Bet will no longer scrutinize Arab educators
  • Arab education panel sets up extra-ministerial oversight body
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