'Beta Israel, Not Home Yet' By Shula Mola

Like many other Israeli 18 year-olds, Eli is concerned about his future. He is studying hard for his upcoming Bagrut exams and hopes for a good position in the army. Perhaps unlike most of his classmates, Eli also dedicates hours of his time every week to organizing protests, writing articles and circulating petitions to raise awareness of important issues in his neighborhood and community. He has helped tutor younger students at his neighborhood community center and knows that education and empowerment will be the foundation for his community's success. Eli is an activist, and he is acutely concerned with the future of Israeli society and its young people. He is willing to take responsibility to help them advance.

Eli is not alone. Along with fifteen other young Ethiopian activists in Ashdod he founded Noar TESFA - a non-profit organization dedicated to social change in Israel. 'Tesfa' means 'hope' in Amharic, and the young group combines that quality in abundance with vision, determination and grit, as they tackle hard problems facing the Ethiopian community in Ashdod. Like most Ethiopians their ages, the members of Noar TESFA come from low-income families. Many of their parents struggle to learn Hebrew, find work, and secure a place for their children in Israeli society. Statistics tell us that a shocking number of them will not succeed. Despite the numbers, Eli and his group seem to be succeeding.

According to the Ministry of Education, they should have failed. In a recent court case concerning Ministry discrimination against an Ethiopian child refused a place in a first grade in Hadera, the State's Attorney on behalf of the Ministry proclaimed: "Ethiopians have low learning abilities . . . they don't improve regardless of how much the government invests in them." When confronted with the essential prejudice of these remarks, the Ministry defended itself by stating that "researchers in both Israel and abroad have proven that there is a correlation between low socio-economic status and low academic ability." This regardless of the hundreds of Ethiopian students throughout Israel, who against all odds are at the head of their classes.

When an educational system blames the children under its care rather that examining itself, it is moving in all the wrong directions. While Noar TESFA and others like them take responsible action to ensure a brighter future for themselves and their communities, the Ministry of Education cynically employs "facts" and statistics to shirk its responsibility towards them. Is it any wonder that Ethiopian students are having trouble in school?

And they are having trouble. According to a joint ADVA Center / Israel Association for Ethiopian Jews report put out in June 2002, of the 60% of Ethiopian students in grades 1-6 in schools that track in English and Mathematics, 65% are below their class level in English and 75% are below in Mathematics. When asked to rate their Ethiopian students in Hebrew, teachers ranked only 32% as successful; and between 1995 and 2000 only an average of 37% of Ethiopian students taking national matriculation exams passed them: less than half the national average. Finally, 6% of Ethiopian students drop out of school between the ages of 14-17; this is double the national average. These numbers indicate that despite the "investment" of the government and social service organizations, young Ethiopians are not effectively integrating into the Israeli educational system.

The question is: why? Should we blame the" low learning abilities" of Ethiopian children? Or should we examine the government's "investment" on their behalf?

One of the primary forms of Ministry investment is the "Extra Hours" program in which the government subsidizes educational enrichment for Ethiopian students. In January, the Israel Association for Ethiopian Jews and the Legal Aid Center for Ethiopian Immigrants wrote a joint letter to the Ministry of Education concerning the misappropriation of these funds for Ethiopian immigrants in Gadera. The letter sought disciplinary action against a school principal in Gadera who was caught stealing funds set aside for Extra Hours programs for Ethiopian students. The principal had been directing the hours to his brother-in-law, a teacher at the school in question, instead of providing the required enrichment programming. As a penalty, the teacher has had his hours reduced, but he has not been removed from his post. Absolutely no action has been taken against the principal. IAEJ and the Legal Aid Center are advocating for severe disciplinary action against both parties, but the Ministry of Education has yet to conduct serious follow up. Would Ministry officials have been so complacent if the money had been directed towards their own children? Is the fact that the children are from among the weakest socio-economic sectors in Israel a factor? I think it is.

Are Eli and his friends in Ashdod special? Yes, but so are the majority of young Ethiopians who provide us with the statistics that worry the Ministry of Education so much. Those numbers are ugly, but they represent beautiful young people who are our future. Each number is an opportunity to change not a statistic, but a life.

Young Ethiopians are as full of ability, hope and potential as other Israeli children and to claim otherwise is both a miscarriage of justice, and a step backwards for any democratic society worth its ideals. Given the tools and resources to empower himself Eli used them. So will others. It is up to us, and the government Ministries and officials who we entrust with our future, to recognize their potential and nurture it. This will not be accomplished by blaming the young generation for the mistakes and blunders of the system. Rather it will require the system taking a long hard look at itself, and taking responsibility for the Tikkun it so desperately needs.

Shula Mola arrived in Israel at the age of twelve after an arduous journey from Ethiopia.
Shula is now the Executive Director of the Israel Association for Ethiopian Jews, an organization advocating for the full and rapid integration of Ethiopian Jews in Israel.