Nahalal Youth Village – Community and Comprehensive School
In Israel, approximately 345,000 youth are categorized at various levels of risk. These children have suffered from such difficulties as neglect, abuse, poverty, and other traumatic circumstances. As a result, they often have behavioral, academic, and social issues in addition to a host of other difficulties.
Without WIZO
Without intervention, these lost youth will continue their downward plunge. With no structure, support system or encouragement, they will gravitate toward anyone or anything that makes them feel they belong.
With WIZO
Our Youth Villages offer a different path. Here, young people learn social, academic, behavioral, artistic and extracurricular skills as they prepare for life as productive citizens of Israel.
WIZO Nahalal Youth Village, in the Jezreel Valley, serves 1,400 students, grades 7 to 12, who live in the nearby area, including 270 who reside in dormitories on campus, some of whom are youth at risk and some who are new immigrants.
WIZO Nahalal was established in 1923 to train women in agricultural work in the Land of Israel. Since then, it has been entrenched in Jewish and Zionist history and has been one of the best schools for agriculture in the country. One of the most famous graduates of the school is Hannah Senesh, the famous paratrooper who was parachuted into Yugoslavia in the Second World War; other graduates include important leaders and figures in Israel’s history.
Students of many different backgrounds attend the youth village which acts as a bridge between cultures. Immigrants from Ethiopia, the FSU, and other countries as well as Druze and other native Israelis learn together to become responsible adults and productive citizens.
The school is a leader in biotechnology and is one of the few high schools in the country teaching the subject. WIZO Nahalal was the first school to be declared a ‘green school’ by the Ministry of Environment, and has some of the most modern facilities featuring an auditorium, a library, and advanced laboratories. Nahalal students are ranked among the top in the country and the induction rate of graduates into the IDF is one of the highest in the State, with many of them volunteering to serve in elite units.
Areas of Study:
- Agricultural Science which includes Dog Breeding and Horse Training
- Biology
- Biotechnology
- Chemistry
- Computer Science
- Design
- Communications
- Electrical Engineering
In addition to standard academic studies, various academic enrichment and remedial education programs are available.
Special Projects:
Na’aleh program – 100 students from Latin America, the FSU and other countries learn and live at the youth village. They come to study in Israel with the hope that they will enter the IDF and make Israel their home. WIZO Nahalal provides these students with tremendous support in order to assist them in acclimating to and succeeding in Israel.
Project Anières – This exclusive program trains young Jews from around the world together with disadvantaged but highly motivated and capable youth from Israel to be engineers in order to give them lucrative careers and financial independence. Students will study science and technology at WIZO Nahalal and continue to the Technion for a B.Sc in Engineering.
Academy for Leadership – This academy trains students for a degree in educational leadership, responsibility and social involvement. It is the recipient of many educational awards.
Center for Agriculture and Sustainability – This unique center is dedicated to teaching youth about environmental responsibility and sustainability. Its facilities, which include a farm, a cowshed, stables, a greenhouse for academic research and more, educates students and local residents about nature, agriculture and the environment. Using the latest technologies, WIZO Nahalal encourages the younger generation to have a greater appreciation of today’s world.
To accommodate the young Jews from around the world (FSU, South America and Europe), who come to WIZO Nahalal on the Na’aleh and Anières programs, the infrastructure needs to be modernised, new residential facilities must be built, and the dining room expanded. We are also looking to increase the assistance we provide to students with learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders and give them more teaching hours in order to help them succeed and graduate.