Chinuch Atzmai has grown this past year by seven percent. Seventeen classes have been opened in new schools, over forty classes have been added in existing schools and another one hundred and twenty classes in school buildings which have been transferred to the Chinuch Atzmai network.
Rabbi Sorotzkin, manager of Chinuch Atzmai, added: "According to the new regulations, we were technically able to divide many existing classes and open additional ones, but due to lack of space, we had to continue crowding forty children and more in one class. The growth rate brings us to this state of affairs where the only solution is housing them in prefab structures, which is not a good thing. In addition to the fact that these are not standard accommodations, they take up precious school yard room which causes tremendous congestion.
"We are talking about schools of which some have an enrollment of two thousand students! Theoretically, this creates a situation where the principal cannot know the students, or even the hundreds of teachers which she employs on any personal basis. Some schools have grade levels which on their own amount to the total student enrollment of a regular school, which is a rarity in schools of any different Israeli stream.
"The Chinuch Atzmai system has to deal with tens of thousands employees, an intensive logistic challenge dealing with the opening of the school year in 68 different local council districts, each one with its respective problems. This includes various types of official recognition and certification, security qualifications, renovation, furniture and supplies, absorption of thousands of new students, preparation of curricula and organizing a transportation system."
Which are the new schools which have been opened?
"This year three new schools were established, serving an example of two new channels in which Chinuch Atzmai seeks to operate. The first comprises of two new schools intended for the chareidi public and the second, a school for the general public of outreach effort, which is perhaps the very thrust for which Chinuch Atzmai was created by Torah leadership in the first place."
