Teachers in Brenner Regional Council
have received laptop computers as part of the program
“A Laptop Computer for Every Teacher in Israel”
of the Brenner Regional Council, Athena Fund, The Teachers Union and The Ministry of Education

 
Brenner regional council, together with Athena Fund, The Teachers Union and The Ministry of Education, distributed laptop computers to elementary school teachers in the region on Wednesday, June 9 2010.
Brenner is the 18th regional council joining Athena Fund’s program “A Laptop Computer for Every Teacher in Israel” and the 4th council in the central district participating in that program.

Teachers in “Beit Or” school in the village of Kidron who are taking part in that project, received Toshiba laptops as well as training sessions in digital literacy, and joined some 3100 teachers in 17 cities and municipal councils, who have already joined the project over the past two years.

The distribution event took place in the presence of Miki Ofer – Head of Local Council, Yosi Wasserman – General Secretary - The Teachers Union , Uri Ben-Ari – President and Founder – Athena Fund, Viki Uziel – General Supervisor, rep Central District in The Ministry of Education, Ronnie Dayan – Head of Computer Applications with The Ministry of Education and Gabi Shimon – Chairperson Teachers Union – Rehovot.
 

Group Photo of all associates of the program “A Laptop Computer for Every Teacher in Israel” in Brenner

Over the past two years, Athena Fund, together with The Teachers Union and The Ministry of Education, has distributed thousands of laptops to teachers in primary schools in Jerusalem, Beer-Sheva, Arad, Yeroham, Sderot, Dimona, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Regional Council Beer Tuvia, Ramla, Lod, Tirat Hacarmel, Nesher, Regional Council Maale Yosef, Oranit, Katzrin and Regional Council Mate Asher.
Other Municipalities and regional councils will join the plan, among which are: Shoham, Raanana, Tiberias, Kedumim, Regional Council Jordan Valley, Afula and Regional Council Ashkelon Area. 60 more municipalities and regional councils await donations in order to assimilate the program into their schools and empower the teachers

Uri Ben-Ari – President & Founder of Athena Fund and Yossi Wasserman – Secretary General of The Teachers Union

“A Laptop Computer for Every Teacher in Israel” is a unique project aimed at empowering the teachers in Israel, a program initiated by Athena Fund, under the leadership of Uri Ben-Ari and in cooperation with The Teachers Union and The Ministry of Education. Athena Fund distributes laptops to teachers in primary schools, accompanied by 120 hours of advanced training courses, including basic operational skills, digital skills, integration of the computer in the teaching process, application of information available for free on the web etc. A poll conducted among teachers joining the project clearly points a significant increase in teachers’ satisfaction from the new sources of information available to them and from the higher level of students’ attention.

Miki Ofer – Head of Brenner Regional Council: “Brenner Regional Council sets Education as its top priority, and therefore the decision to join the project was taken despite the fact that the council itself supports implementation in our region.
We identified the great importance of the program in improving teachers’ skills within the digital environment, access to new sources of information, the challenge of increasing level of teaching and communicating additional knowledge to students. We aim at empowering the teachers in our region and convey to them the importance of their role.
I wish to point out the wonderful collaboration with Athena Fund, The Ministry of Education, The New Teachers Union and The Regional Council, without whom we would not have been able to reach our goals”.
 
Uri Ben-Ari, President and Founder of Athena Fund added: “I congratulate The Brenner council headed by Miki Ofer for joining the project. I am confident that investing in education in general and in teachers in particular will prove itself and will empower the teachers and the students”. Ben-Ari added: “I am hopeful that within 3 years, every teacher in Israel will possess a personal laptop, accompanied by professional training, which will empower him personally and allow him to operate more efficiently in the digital world”.

The teachers in “Beit Or” school in Brenner with their new laptops

Yosi Wasserman, Secretary General of the Teachers Union: “In the computer era, and when computer language runs our world, eventually – our final goal is neither machines or robots, nor chips or start-ups. Our goal centers around the human being. The computer develops rapidly but the human being is the key, and what we are doing today is aimed at upgrading the interaction between the two”.

According to Athena’s plan, 60,000 laptops will be distributed to teachers in Israel by 2012. The project is supported by The Ministry of Education, The Teachers’ Union, Funds and Associations, like: Yeroham Fund, Merage Fund, Angel Fund, The Ofer Bros Fund, UJUK, UJC, Matan Association, The Ted Arison Family Fund, Jerry Schwartz and Heather Reisman, The Lod Rotary Club and additional donors. In addition the project enjoys support of the business sector: Toshiba, BUG, Mafil, Intel, Microsoft, Symantec, Taldor, Tech Data, People and Computers, Radix and Fujitsu.