Developing Technology Centers at Jewish Schools in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus

The great demand for ORT's services in the Newly Independent States is best illustrated by the fact that in 1998 alone, there were six applicants for each available place at existing ORT schools. ORT continually receives new requests to provide its unique brand of Jewish and technological education for communities spread throughout the region. With well over 1 million Jewish people still living in these countries, the need for educational initiatives of this kind is enormous. The challenge facing ORT is to respond to this need rapidly and effectively.

ORT's Project Regeneration is therefore facilitating a major transformation of Jewish education and community life in the Newly Independent States. Project Regeneration's two primary goals are: to create thriving and attractive Jewish schools that deliver high quality technological education (providing graduates with a real competitive advantage when seeking higher vocational education and employment opportunities); and to establish these schools as a focal point for these emerging Jewish communities, so they will contribute to the renewal and revitalization of Jewish life in these countries. ORT believes that combining the latest in computer and internet education programs with Jewish education will inspire large numbers of Jewish youth to explore their collective heritage and culture. As ORT prepares students for their future, it is also laying the foundation for stronger Jewish communities.

Each ORT Technology Center contains networked multimedia computer laboratories designed to enrich the student's entire curriculum. The centers offer Jewish education, math and history, as well as engineering labs that train students in electronics, robotics, electronic control systems and other areas of expertise vital in the high-tech job market. The computer labs' high-speed access to the Internet, via ORTnet (www.ort.org), links staff and students to other Jewish communities and to ORT's global resources.

Contributors to Women's American ORT provided the lead support for the multi-million dollar Phase I of Regeneration 2000, and their generosity allowed the campaign to be completed within six months' time. Phase I established technology centers located in schools in: Samara and Kazan, Russia; Kishinev, Moldova; Minsk, Belarus; and Kiev, Dniepropetrovsk, Kharkov and Zaporozhie in the Ukraine.