Whilst all of the Jewish State is totally
focused on the fate of three young Israeli boys, here are some recent news
items that illustrate the importance that the Jewish State places on its
children and youth.
Statistics published by the National
Library to mark annual Hebrew Book Week shows that children's
literature is a thriving sector, with 879 new books published last
year. Education standards in Israeli
schools are also improving and for the first time, the European Foundation for
Quality Management recognized
four Israeli schools for implementing its Excellence Model for
organizational management.
Today’s curriculum isn’t restricted to
reading, writing and arithmetic. For example, 700 children from 18 Israeli
middle schools took part in Israel’s “Youth, Water & Knowledge” program and
competition to help prepare the next
generation of Israeli water experts.
First prize went to the Israeli-Arab Al Mutanabi school of Kfar
Manda. Children’s education also isn’t
confined to the classroom. At the Mini
Maker Fair at the Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem, children were
encouraged to build robots, games and 3D products in 3D printers, all using new
technology. Half a million Israeli children receive after-school environmental
education to promote the collection, sorting and recycling of plastic
bottles.
Israeli students are bringing home more
prizes than ever. Israeli 12th graders returned from the 2014 Asian Physics
Olympiad in Singapore with five medals and three honorable
mentions. Meanwhile, pupils from Ilan
Ramon Youth Physics Center in Beer-Sheva won their 45th prize in the "First
Step to Nobel Prize in Physics" competition. Israel has won the most prizes of all
countries, since the US-based competition began in 2007.
Three of Israel’s older students have
demonstrated their skills by winning
second place at an International engineering students’ conference in
Turkey. Other students at the IDC’s miLAB in Herzliya are
researching the next
big start-up by exploring the future of technology, media and human-computer interaction.
Israeli children often “make a difference”
before they have even left school. A
group of 13-year-olds from the Harel School in Lod has made a breakthrough that
can help developing countries, by filtering
water, using ground pieces of rubber made from scrap tires. And a tiny 840 grams satellite designed by a
group of Israeli high school students at the Herzliya Science Center was successfully
launched in Russia. Duchifat 1
will help
locate lost travelers in areas with no cell phone reception.
Many of Israel’s innovations are aimed at
helping children. Israel’s Andromeda
Biotech was doing so well in the Phase III trials of its DiaPep277 therapy for Type
1 (juvenile) diabetes that it was bought by US pharmaceutical company
Hyperion. Israel’s Tal Sagie recently
launched Therapee
- the world’s first online interactive program for treating enuresis
(bedwetting). Tal and his father Jacob at their clinics have already cured
27,000 children of the problem.
Meanwhile, Israeli industrial designer Yoav Mazar has developed the Doona
– for those families with infants that want to avoid packing the car with both
a car seat and a stroller / buggy.
Of course Israelis don’t just look after
their own children. Israel’s Dr. “Miki”
Karplus recently explained some simple techniques that Israeli doctors use to save
lives of babies in Ghana. The
BBC has produced a film “Keepod ‘magic drives’ put
Nairobi’s children online” to show how the $7 device can provide
billions with computer access.
Strangely, the BBC
didn’t mention that the Keepod is an Israeli invention! Now over to Northern Ethiopia where two
Israeli physicians from Haifa’s Rambam Medical center, Dr. Omri Emodi and Dr.
Zach Sharony, performed 91 operations in 5 days to repair
cleft lips and pallets.
The Jewish Agency for Israel held a camp
for 100
children (Jews and Arabs) from southern Israel whose lives have been
affected by rocket fire from Gaza and by other terror attacks. And for ten years, the Middle East
Education through Technology (MEET) program has been uniting budding young
hi-tech Palestinian
Arab and Israeli entrepreneurs. Palestinian Arab anesthesiologist Wafiq
Othman, however, told one of the most moving recent stories. Israeli doctors at
Save A Child’s Heart (SACH) saved
his younger brother’s life and inspired Wafiq to train with SACH.
I’ll conclude by mentioning some programs
that give opportunities for young people from overseas to see the Startup
Nation for themselves. Firstly,
Israel’s Big Idea
Summer Camp will teach new technologies to children aged between 7 and
18 from 30 countries. Israel’s Technion
has two programs for students from the USA. TeAMS
(Technion American Medical School) in Haifa trains students to a standard high
enough for the top US medical centers and University hospitals. And the Technion’s latest exchange program
with the University
of Connecticut promotes joint research into new energy technologies.
Finally, there were over 13,000 submissions
to the “My
Family Story” competition for the best 3-D Art representation of their
family history. 42 youngsters won a
trip to Israel and will have their entries displayed at Tel Aviv University’s
Beit Hatfutsot Museum of the Jewish People.
We pray for the safe return of our children Gil-ad Shaer, Naftali Fraenkel and Eyal Yifrach.
The future of the Jewish nation is the
next generation.
Michael Ordman writes a free weekly
newsletter containing positive news stories about Israel.
For a free subscription, email a request to
michael.goodnewsisrael@gmail.com
