Hila Levy, Director, Educational Projects, Shaar

In a moving event, 32 students have recently celebrated the completion yet another successful year of providing support for the pupils of the Pardess Katz neighborhood Remez and Neve Sarah schools. The students, residents of the neighborhood, are graduates of these same schools. They work with the schools' current pupils towards matriculation examinations, receive a stipend to finance their university studies and participate in empowerment workshops throughout the year. Pupils report that the individual accompaniment that they receive from the students helped raise their faith in their abilities to succeed in school and encouraged them to aspire towards higher education.

Iris Doron, the Remez school principal, states that the rates of qualification for matriculation certificates and the number of students at the school expressing the desire to register for higher education have been steadily increasing ever since the program began operating in the school.
The Shaar – Kol Israel Haverim Ida Scholarship program provides accompaniment for the school's graduates, once they have obtained their matriculation certificates, in higher education and in finding suitable employment. It also provides the school's pupils with support towards obtaining higher quality matriculation certificates and, by so doing, strengthens the links between college students and their community.

In his address, Sam Pinto, Kol Israel Haverim's Chairman, spoke of the importance of the education he received while still a child in Morocco, and reiterated the commitment of Kol Israel Haverim and his family to continue encouraging scholastic excellence in the Pardess Katz neighborhood.