Latest Study Sounds Alarm About Overcrowded Classrooms Throughout Israel
According to a new study just released by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics, Israeli school children are grouped in some of the most crowded classes in the developed world. The report, published in The Times Of Israel, underscores the importance of afterschool programs like those provided by the Israel Tennis Centers.
New York, New York, March 31, 2016 (Newswire.com) - The alarming report indicated that the average elementary school class size during the 2013 -2014 school year was 26.8, far worse than the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average of 21. Israel was tied with Japan and ahead of only Chile, which averages 30 students per class.
The article went on to say that the total average class size for Israeli children across all ages was 27, with over 30% of schools reporting over 33 students per class. It is no surprise, therefore, that Israeli school children ranked near the bottom globally, according to a major education report published by the OECD. According to figures released by the Education Ministry in July 2015, almost half of all Israeli high school-aged students who took a set of national exams in 2014 failed to achieve scores necessary to graduate.
All this underscores very clearly the increasing importance of the kind of afterschool programs offered by the Israel Tennis Centers to any Israeli child who walks into one of its 14 centers around the country. Not only does the ITC provide a safe and nurturing place for children to go after school, but its programs provide vital assistance to children with a variety of issues, including at risk, special needs and immigrant assimilation. In addition, the ITC just announced a unique new partnership program with “Push” in which volunteers will be going into ITC centers to provide valuable after school tutoring services, representing yet another important service for thousands of very deserving young people.
“For the past 40 years we have been helping the children of Israel learn key educational life skills they so desperately need in today’s world,” said Ben Beiler, ITC International Board Chairman. “This study confirms the vital role that the ITC must continue to play in giving these children the tools necessary to overcome the challenges they face to succeed in life.”
The release of this study coincides with the Israel Tennis Centers’ 40th anniversary as Israel’s largest social service agency for children. In recognition of this enormous accomplishment, the Israel Tennis Centers Foundation has planned a yearlong celebration in both Israel and the Diaspora calling attention to what the ITC continues to accomplish for the 20,000+ children and their families who utilize the centers each year. For those interested in attending any of these events, you are encouraged to contact the ITC by emailing jglodstein@israeltenniscenters.org or calling 212-784-9201.
About the Israel Tennis Centers Foundation:
For 40 years the Israel Tennis Centers Foundation (ITC), a 501 (c) 3 not-for-profit organization, has worked tirelessly through the medium of sport to enhance the development of Israeli youth. Since opening its first center in Ramat Hasharon in 1976, the ITC has helped over a half million children, many of whom come from outlying and underserved towns throughout Israel. The ITC’s 14 centers stretch from Kiryat Shmona on the Lebanese border in the North to Beer Sheva bordering the Negev Desert in the South. http://www.israeltenniscenters.org.
Contacts:
Jacqueline Glodstein
Executive Vice President/Global Development
212-784-9201
Richard Weber
Global Director of Marketing
212-784-9202