Extensive enrollment drives have brought record enrollment
and an increase of nearly 30 percent more students than last
year at Shuvu schools as more and more parents seek
alternatives to the dismal education at government
schools.
Many parents are drawn by the combination of Torah education
and high-caliber secular studies. Shuvu officials say this
year applications have been arriving from every part of the
country, among French, British and US immigrants as well as
native Israelis, attributing the increased enrollment to a
new strategy of working in cooperation with the Wolfson
Foundation and its representative, R' Ilan Cossman.
This year the respective Shuvu schools have been granted
greater independence, allowing each school to work in
accordance with the needs of the community its students hail
from. At some of the schools, for example, an open-house day
was organized to allow parents to observe the various study
programs firsthand; other schools organized educational
activities to provide an experiential illustration of the
curriculum and teaching style. Most of the schools will hold
camps during the summer break to provide participants a
glimpse of Torah life.
To accommodate the boost in enrollment for the upcoming year
the Shuvu network is working on expansion and renovation
projects at schools in Rechovot, Netanya and Natzeret Illit,
where enrollment levels are particularly high.
Meanwhile a solution to fund the busing system, which is so
critical to the network's success, has also been arranged.
The Shuvu network, run by Chinuch Atzmai, was worried that
the enrollment campaign might be in vain. But thanks to his
exerted efforts MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni secured a pledge to fund
the busing system.
