NAALE program
The NAALE program (young olim arriving before their parents)
1)Background — The NAALE program was first started by the Israeli Government, acting through the Education and Culture Ministry, in the 5753 (1992-1993) school year. This was in response to demands by many families in the former Soviet Union, who wished to send their children to high school in Israel.
Effective for the 5755 school year (1994-95), the government decided to transfer this program to the Jewish Agency, acting through Aliyat Hanoar.
A few days before being assassinated Prime Minister Itzkhak Rabin (z"l) decided to return the program to the Israeli Government, acting through the Education and Culture Ministry.
The program is run by the "Association for the Promotion of Education", a non-profit public body established by the Education Ministry, acting through a special administrative organization with several departments: Education and Placement; Foreign (CIS and Eastern Europe; Latin America; France; English-speaking countries); Clinical Unit; Administrations; Graduates. The staff provide professional guidance for the students´ absorption process and support for the educational institutions, the students and their parents.
Jewish Agency representatives are in charge of promoting the program and locating suitable candidates. The Jewish Agency is also in charge of preparing the students before they come to Israel, organizing their flights and keeping them in touch with their parents abroad.
Starting with the 5758 school year, each class was given a name. The class that arrived in the summer of 1997 is called "Iovel" for the jubilee year - Israel´s 50th Independence Day. The following classes are: "Dror"; "Zohar" (for the late Education Minister, Zevulun Hammer z"l); "Noam" (celebrating the expansion of the NAALE program to the West). The class of 5762 will be called "Asor" (decade), celebrating the 10th anniversary of the NAALE program.
Between 800 and 1000 students come to Israel every year under this program.
2)Target audience — The program accepts boys and girls who wish to study in Israel and have the personality traits to be good students and adapt to a new and different reality without their parents.
NAALE students come from some 250 cities all over the CIS (the former Soviet Union) — from Khabarovsk, close to Japan, through Odessa on the Black Sea shore, and up to Tallin, next to Scandinavia. The classes are not divided by region of origin — to the contrary. An effort is made to assemble students with differing cultural backgrounds, but with a shared group goal: to do well in Israel.
This may sound simple; however, anyone familiar with the different groups knows that, at least regarding how they perceive themselves, great differences exist between those born in Saint Petersburg (formerly Leningrad), a Soviet cultural and artistic center, and those from the small villages of the various republics.
Starting in 5760 the program has also been implemented in Eastern Europe and in the West, in countries such as Hungary, Argentina, Mexico and other Latin American countries, and in South Africa. Other countries are on a "waiting list".
3) Educational institutions in Israel — NAALE is a three-year program (10th through 12th grade) leading to an Israeli baccalaureate degree (teudat bagrut). It is considered one of the educational programs which integrate a large selection of educational institutions.
NAALe groups study at regular state-run schools, state-religious schools, Orthodox schools, boarding schools, kibbutzim, secondary education yeshivot, ulpanot for young girls, etc. The parents select the educational stream their children will attend before they arrive in Israel.
There is also a very exclusive mode in which students are enrolled in some of the best urban schools in the country, such as the high school run by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and live on close-by kibbutzim.
Generally speaking, NAALE students help raise the academic level of the schools they go to. Schools compete with each other to be assigned NAALE groups.
The ample variety of educational institutions creates professional and human links which are unusual in Israeli society. The "peer study" framework for home-class teachers for NAALE groups enables encounters between a teacher from Kibbutz Ein-Geddi, the principal of the secondary Yeshiva at Karlin, a teacher from the high school belonging to the Hebrew University, one from the Havat Hanoar Hatzioni in Jerusalem, a teacher from an Ortodox institute for women, and the principal of the Nir Haemek boarding school.
4)The selection process — The Jewish Agency is in charge of advertising the program in most cities and Jewish and Israeli institutions. After a primary selection done by Agency staff in the target country, evaluation groups travel there on behalf of NAALE. The team includes specialists in the areas of education and psychology. Each student is evaluated using a series of tests. Their goal is to diagnose those factors and collect the information that will help decide whether to accept him or her into the program. Sometimes candidates that have passed this stage are asked to attend a preparation camp (where they are further evaluated) during the summer. Only after camp are candidates told definitely if they have been accepted into the program and to which institution they will be sent.
5)Contact with the parents — Students are entitled to one visit to their parents during the program, with fare paid by the Jewish Agency. The parents and their children stay in touch by mail, phone (quite a few students have cell phones so their parents can easily reach them), email, etc.
Many of the parents consider their children their "advance party" on their way to moving to Israel.
6)Host families — The program fosters links between the students and Israeli volunteer families that become their entry point to Israeli life and with whom they stay on weekends.
These families open their hearts and their homes to the students. Relationships are established that continue even after the students have completed the program, and all along their military service.
These Israeli families have many different backgrounds regarding their countries of origin, formal education, neighborhoods, etc.
They are the "good side" of Israeli society.
7)NAALE graduates — About 95% of NAALE graduates decide to stay in Israel. In about 50% of cases the parents immigrate to Israel while their children are still in the program.
Most graduates go on to serve in the Israel Defense Force or within the National Service framework. About 7% join the Academic Reserve and go to college before their military service. Most go into technological areas.
NAALE graduates make up some 40% of the "soldiers without first degree relatives in the countries" in the IDF and about 25% of immigrant soldiers.
These graduates serve in all IDF units. They - men and women - include officers, trainee pilots, one "Navy Seal", etc.
At some point NAALE understood that the graduates need continued support and an ongoing relationship with the organization. As successful military service is an important component of absorption into Israeli society, NAALE established the Graduate Department which works hand in hand with the IDF and the Absorption Ministry.
The Department works to enable graduates meaningful service in the IDF. It is a contact point for graduates and the military system: it sends the soldiers packages, gives them psychological counseling in some cases, supports social and cultural events and its representatives visits the soldiers wherever they serve.
