students to visit Poland and Israel

Following the success of last year's International ORT Mission for students from Israel, Argentina and Russia, ORT Israel, under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, is once again organizing a two-week mission to Poland and Israel commemorating the Holocaust and the birth of Israel.

The mission to Poland, beginning on April 30, is designed to broaden student awareness of the mass-slaughter of Jews by the Nazis during World War II. The students, ages 17 and up, will learn about 1,500 years of Jewish life in Poland, visit the Warsaw Ghetto and concentration camp sites and attend Poland's annual Holocaust Memorial Day observances.

Arriving in Israel on May 7, mission participants will stay with ORT Israel students and teachers, attend Memorial (Yom Hazikaron) and Independence Day (Yom Ha'atzmaut) ceremonies, embark on excursions throughout the country and participate in seminars.

joint ventures expand ORT Chile's programs

The Coca-Cola Foundation has increased its funding of ORT Chile's Tavec project (Science Education Program), enabling it to serve an additional 25 public schools throughout the country.

Since 1996, Coca-Cola has been funding the program, which uses computers to teach science and aims to improve education in that discipline in Chile's public school system.

Each school is fully equipped with a computer and science laboratory, permitting students to measure scientific variables. ORT operates a two-year training program with each school and then continues to support the schools via distance learning using the Internet.

Through an agreement with the national phone company, ORT Chile ran an access-free Internet Plaza and conducted courses in the use of the Internet, reaching some 60,000 people.

In collaboration with the Municipality of Cerro Navia, ORT will manage a technology center housing multimedia and robotics laboratories and an audiovisual workshop for approximately 500 at-risk children.

Uruguayan school admitted to university group

The Latin America Association of Universities, the oldest and largest association of its kind on the continent, has accepted ORT Uruguay University as a full member.

In 1999 three new ORT Uruguay University degrees were recognized by the Ministry of Education: a bachelor's of science in architecture and electrical engineering and a CPA professional degree. A one-year training program in digital video and computerized special effects was also launched.

ORT to provide aid in Venezuela

Following last December's devastating floods in Caracas, hundreds of thousands of people were relocated to the southern part of the country. Venezuelan government agencies approached ORT to establish training centers to serve those who have been displaced. An ORT specialist from Argentina traveled to Caracas to assess training needs, and an agreement has been reached to implement a variety of vocational training programs this year.

The Youth Training project, an existing program in Caracas, provides informal vocational training to underprivileged young people living in the city's most depressed areas.

ORT and JDC training Kosovars

The World ORT Union, in cooperation with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, has launched a program to train local workers in Prizren, Kosovo, as textile machinists to work in the clothing and textile manufacturing industry.

The three-month course, open to 25 students, will be offered three times a year. Training will be conducted with the help of local professionals. Facilities for the vocational training center have been provided by the owner of a textile factory in the city. And new parts were acquired to repair equipment on the premises that had not been in working condition.

Computer laboratories have been established in two Pristina schools and plans are in place to upgrade an existing lab in a third school, allowing more than 1,600 students to enroll.

To meet the demand for English instruction, ORT has been asked to add more classes to the six courses it is currently conducting in two Pristina schools. Each course enrolls 25 students. About 2,000 people have registered. Local English teachers are being sought to staff the program.

A course using basic bookkeeping and accounting software has been introduced in Prizren. Programs to retrain unemployed adults in much-needed skills to repair the country's infrastructure - carpentry, metal work, welding, roof repair, glazing and construction - will soon be offered.

new school planned in India

On the site of the old Sassoon School in Bombay, ORT India will establish a new school offering a high-tech and academic curriculum including a department for media studies for the city's Jewish community.

ORT programs praised in U.K.

Wishing to learn more about ORT and ORTnet's projects, Great Britain's Secretary of State at the Department for Trade and Industry requested a visit to ORT House. A member of the department's Competitiveness Unit was interested in ORT's multimedia business and manufacturing education package, Enterprise (www.ort.org/edu/enterprise/index), and Do I.T., the foundation course in information technology (doit.ort.org). The British government is seeking to promote entrepreneurial skills and vocational training for high school students and those already in the workforce.

EnglishSpace, ORT's online interactive course for teachers and students of English as a Second Language (www.englishspace.ort.org), has been featured as "Site of the Day" by The Guardian, one of Britain's leading national dailies.

Technology 2000

The World ORT Union will be one of the hosts of Technology 2000 - Sixth International Conference on the Problems of Technology

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