
New school to ofer sports, music and art classes as well (illustration)
Photo: Yoav Friedman
A first ultra-Orthodox educational institution teaching core curriculum subjects
is set to open in Jerusalem in about three months ahead of the new school year.
The move is seen as exceptional on the backdrop of the harsh criticism directed at the haredi sector, which usually fails to include core subjects in its schools' curriculums.
The school will be established for students of the small haredi yeshivot, aged 13 to 16.
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The new institution will offer Bible, history, English and math lessons, alongside Torah studies. Students will also be given the opportunity to participate in sports, music and art classes.
Sources in the school's management say that at the initial stage, there will be no boarding school services at the institution, which is located in Jerusalem's Bayit Vegan neighborhood.
So far, haredi parents were forced to send their sons to distant institutions, like the Nehora, Maarava and Hayishuv Hahadash yeshivot in central Israel, in order to complete their regular studies.
The person behind the initiative is Bezalel Cohen, head of the Aguda Achat association, which helps working haredim.
Cohen recently flew to the United States to examine a similar format applied in haredi educational institutions for young boys and learn how the sector's youth can be trained to integrate into the labor market and academic studies in Israel.