Popular Hebrew language subject cut from cirriculum at Glen Eira College
Outraged parents are fighting to get a popular Hebrew language subject put back on the curriculum after it was scrapped from a largely-Jewish public school in the inner south — with some students even moving elsewhere as a result.
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Outraged parents are fighting to get a popular Hebrew language subject put back on the curriculum after it was axed from a largely-Jewish public school — with some students even moving elsewhere as a result.
Glen Eira College, which sits in Melbourne’s Jewish heartland in Caulfield East, has offered the subject for seven years but will not teach it in 2019, claiming a qualified teacher could not be found.
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The Year 7, 8 and 9 subject is only offered in one other Australian school in Sydney’s east, and was open to students of all religious denominations. More than 70 students were enrolled to do the subject at Glen Eira this year.
Glen Eira College students are no longer being offered Hebrew language as a study option. Picture Sarah Matray
Father-of-five Jonathan Schauder was integral in bringing the subject to the school in 2011, which has seen the school population grow by 10 per cent every year since.
He said he put forward at least five suitable candidates for the role, all of which were rejected.
“People will leave the school if the subject is scrapped and I know of four families who have already unenrolled from Year 7 as a result,” he said.
“The benefits of the subject are infinite. It allows Jewish kids to feel genuinely legitimate in school, recognises cultural differences and (long-term) it allows them to participate in community activities, explore trade and working in the Middle East generally.
“If we lose it, we suddenly have no formality in the curriculum and … kids will have to choose between doing sport or language studies after school, and they won’t choose language.”
Mr Schauder said he is calling for the Department of Education to reverse the school’s decision and reinstate the program.
“This school exists to serve the (biggest Jewish community in the Southern Hemisphere) and the private Jewish schools charge upwards of $40,000 a year,” Mr Schauder said.
“If it was a case of low participation numbers, I would let it go but there’s no real excuse.”
Principal Sheereen Kindler said the school was investigating options to support students in Hebrew studies through an after-hours partner program.
“We are committed to offering students the broadest possible language program and will review this next year with a view to reintroducing Hebrew language studies in 2020, pending student demand and staff resourcing,” she said.
Department of Education spokeswoman Katie Elliott did not answer questions about whether the department would step in, and said decisions to run programs were made based on several factors.
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