When the principal of AMIT Wasserman Torah, Arts and Sciences Jr. and Sr. High School for Girls heard her students lamenting that they wish they knew how to fix a broken computer, she decided to enable them to do just that.
Ruchama Vogel, the principal, worked with the Ma’ale Adumim municipality and Machshava Tova, an organization in Israel that aims to close the digital divide, and recently introduced a special course to teach the girls how to repair computers.
The course includes 230 hours of computer study, after which the students will take a certification exam administered by tech giant Cisco that will enable them to intern as computer technicians working in their communities.
The opening of the course was attended by various dignitaries, including Guy Yifrach, the deputy mayor of Ma’ale Adumim, Iris Alfasi, the city’s head of information systems who also works to empower and help young women succeed, and other representatives from the city and Machshava Tova.
Thanks to a special donation from that organization, the students are also taking part in an entrepreneurship class aimed at teaching them the fundamentals of product development and marketing.
“Women can succeed in all areas of the sciences, and the AMIT students are proof that success requires only two components: the motivation to learn and acquire knowledge and participation in the right courses, which is what we are helping with,” said Alfasi. “A central part of my work is to increase the motivation among young women to study science and technology and to make these classes accessible to them, and to women in general.”
