Politics

GIRLS FROM THE BEDOUIN SECTOR ARE DOING THEIR NATIONAL SERVICE AS INSTRUCTORS IN ISRAEL ELECTRIC'S EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM, NATIV HAOR



The program, Nativ Haor, is being taught to 4th to 6th grade students for the fifth year in 314 schools in the Arab sector and will train 24,893 students to use electricity safely.

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Israel Electric<http://www.iec.co.il/EN/IR/Pages/default.aspx> held a training day for 52 girls from the Bedouin sector undergoing their national service.  These girls will become local group instructors in Arab towns in the Galilee where the Nativ Haor program is being taught in Arabic.  The program is being taught in 314 Arabic-speaking schools in 57 local authorities, of which 15 are Jewish-Arab.  The girls come from the towns in Wadi Hamam, Bir El-Maksur, and Shefaram, and will teach 24,893 students in 911 classes.



Currently, Israel Electric has 50 Arabic-speaking company trainers instructing local groups and teaching the program content to classes from Bueina Hujidat in the Galilee to the Bedouin towns of Lakia, Hura, Segev-Shalom, Abu Basma, Abu Krinat, Rahat, etc.



The Nativ Haor program is being taught for the fifth year to 4th to 6th grade students in the Arab sector.  The educational program was initiated by Israel Electric in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and the Union of Local Authorities and is intended to educate children, and through them, adults, to behave appropriately in an electricity-consuming environment. The program was the result of the need to deal with the public's lack of knowledge regarding safety in electricity use, assuming that correct and safe behavior can come from a learning and fun experience.  In Nativ Haor emphasis is placed on creating a cultural change and an environment of safety.



Many electricity-related accidents occur in the Arab sector (some lethal) that could have been prevented with legal, safe, and careful use of electricity. Since the program began, some of the electricity hazards are discovered by children who attended the Nativ Haor training programs, and they warn their parents and Israel Electric's 103 Call Center for faults in the grid as learnt in the program.  There are even a number of cases where Nativ Haor children in the sector saved human lives.



Asher Dahan, IEC Senior Vice President: "The Nativ Haor program, which educates a safe life style in an electricity-consuming environment, hit the road seven years ago, with the aim of encouraging children, and through them other communities, to behave wisely and safely in general, and in an electricity-consuming environment, in particular.  This year, the program is being taught in about 1,600 religious, secular, orthodox, and Arab elementary schools. The activities take place under the guidance of Israel Electric volunteers that present and show the electricity generation process and its rules of safety."



Dahan added that "In Israel Electric there is a shortage of Arabic-speaking instructors.  In order to fulfill this need in the Arab sector, we began a cooperation initiative with the National Service program in the Ministry of Education to enable us to specially train the girls in the Bedouin sector during their national service.  The girls will teach the safe use of electricity during their one-year service so that the children in the Arab sector will learn to behave responsibly and safely in an electricity environment."



During the day of training, the girls learned about the Nativ Haor program, received training material in Arabic, underwent an illustrative workshop that IEC teach in the classes, met IEC workers involved in instructing the program, and expectations were established.