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Non-Profit Provides Disadvantaged Youth With Science Activities

Approaching the Technoda Dorset complex in the Givat Olga neighborhood of Hadera, one is struck by how incongruous the clean pink-brick building looks among the tenements, ill-kept sidewalks and low-scale shops in the surrounding area. But the location of the Center for Education in Science and Technology is no accident. Technoda was established in 1986 as part of the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Project Renewal – precisely for the purpose of providing Givat Olga’s children with the opportunities for enrichment that are taken for granted in more affluent communities. Every year tens of thousands of children and teenagers receive an extensive extracurricular education here in a wide range of science and technology fields.

“The more disadvantaged among the children of Givat Olga are offered after-school day boarding,” Director of Resource Development Liora Kalish tells ISRAEL21c as we tour the facility indoors and out. “They get a hot meal, help with their homework and access to all the activities of the center.” One department is devoted to studying and assessing the long-term effects of this program on the kids. According to Kalish, “Not only do their grades in school improve, but 58 percent of them end up continuing on to academic studies connected to science and technology.” In other words, she says, “It works.” But she acknowledges some failures, particularly a lack of improvement in the kids’ language skills – a realization that has led to enhanced efforts in that area. Walking through a large, colorful room set up like a city street with crosswalks and traffic signs, Kalish explains that this is for preschoolers learning about road safety. Every few weeks, the display is changed for teaching other subjects. “For the little ones, as for older kids and adults, everything here is hands-on,” she says. “To be touched and experimented with, not just seen.”

The non-profit organization is funded mainly by local and foreign donors, with minimal subsidies from the Israeli Education Ministry. According to Technoda Director Gadi Mador, who heads a staff of 150 full-time and part-time employees, what is special about the center is its focus not only on cultivating future scientists, but on social equality and peace. Mador is not worried that Technoda’s success can, and often does, send youth from Givat Olga in search of greener pastures. “If we can be a kind of way station for cultivating kids who subsequently leave, it’s a good thing,” he says. “One mistake I learned from was not to help the poor families here – whether native Israelis or immigrants from the Caucasus and Ethiopia – through charity. Instead, we have to cause them to strive for bigger and better things. To empower them, not keep them weak.” Asked if this meant that Technoda is providing the proverbial fishing rod, as opposed to the fish, he smiles. “It’s much more than that. We are teaching them to build the fishing rod.” (via Israel21c)

[Photo: DoDEA / Flickr]