The Mandel School for Educational Leadership fellows organized a one-day seminar about the challenges of development towns, in order to cultivate discussion about the narratives of people who live and lived in development towns and their daily challenges, especially in the realms of education and social welfare.

The seminar took place within the framework of the course “Society and Education” taught by Adi Nir Sagi, Director of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership and by Dr. Varda Shiffer, Vice-President of Mandel Foundation-Israel. The course dealt with systemic and historical questions about the challenges of education and society in development towns.

“The premise of the seminar was that understanding the development and workings of the educational system in Israel requires both familiarity with and understanding of the societal context. Familiarity with the challenges facing development towns helps in understanding the context of the educational system on the macro level,” says Ruth Kabesa, Mandel fellow and one of the organizers of the seminar. Moreover, she adds, it is important to learn how the State's institutions absorbed Mizrahi Jews in the 1950s and about the long term effects of that era’s social and educational policy.

The seminar raised the point that to this day there has been no fundamental change in the public discourse’s perception of development towns. Therefore, although many years have passed, even today it is important to understand Israeli society’s perception of development towns and also, as a derivative, to understand the educational system in Israel.

Professor Yossi Yonah tried to explain why educational initiatives and conceptions that were influential in shaping the educational system in Israel, as well as the conception of development towns, are maintained to this day. He argued that the media plays a central role in the classification of development towns as places of poverty and violence, even though there is no empirical basis for this image. In addition, the unequal distribution of property and lands has impacted upon the economic status of peripheral and development towns, particularly in light of cutbacks in resources and special grants. Moreover, the “migration of brainpower” from development towns is a result of the belief that in order to study at outstanding institutions it is necessary to leave.

From a historical viewpoint it is also possible to learn about the development of the educational system through texts that point to the establishment of boarding schools, high schools and vocational training and texts about the ideology of education that rehabilitates and compensates. Today these ideas continue to exist throughout the educational system, sustaining educational initiatives and conceptions.

The seminar also uncovered the practical aspect – what is happening today in development towns in light of Israeli society’s assumptions? The panel guests present at the seminar revealed vigorous lives full of initiatives and revitalization and leading change.

At the end of the day there was a screening of the film “HaHaluztim” (The Pioneers), produced by Mandel graduate Dr. Aharele Cohen, which presents the historical story of the first immigrants who settled in the town of Sderot and made the desert blossom. The narrative is given through the eyes and voices of the older generation – voices that have been repressed from public discourse, and when heard it is only in the context of discrimination and injustice.