ORT (Russian: Общество Ремесленного Труда, romanized: Obshchestvo Remeslenava Truda, lit. 'Association for the Promotion of Skilled Trades'), also known as the Organisation for Rehabilitation through Training, is a global education network driven by Jewish values. It promotes education and training in communities worldwide. Its activities throughout its history have spanned more than 100 countries and five continents. It was founded in 1880 in Saint Petersburg to provide professional and vocational training for young Jews.
Contents
Overview
World ORT is a federation of autonomous ORT national organisations. In 2005 ORT's global budget exceeded US$250 million annually. As of 2016, its annual budget was US$62.7 million. ORT's current operations are in Israel, the former Soviet Union (including the Baltic States), Europe, Latin America, and South Africa. ORT also runs International Cooperation programs.
In 2003 Israel was the area of ORT's largest operation, with 90,000 students educated or trained at ORT's 159 schools, colleges and institutions, educating 25% of Israel’s hi-tech workforce. However, in 2006 ORT Israel withdrew from World ORT. World ORT continues to work in Israel under the name of Kadima Mada-Educating for Life, working with the Israeli Ministry of Education, other Israeli ministries, regional councils and hospitals providing increased resources and improved facilities and schools equipment. World ORT raises funds through its membership organisations in different countries and through the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA).
World ORT is legally constituted in Switzerland, but operates from offices in London, England. It has consultative status for information and education purposes with UNESCO, and observer status at the International Labour Organization
ORT is a founding member of ICVA (International Council of Voluntary Agencies).
History
The second partition of Poland in 1793 had resulted in a sharp increase in the number of Jews in Russia, so that in 1794 Empress Catherine the Great decreed that the majority of them would henceforth be restricted to living and working in the Pale of Settlement. The Jews were not allowed to leave the Pale or own land outside it. They were removed from their homes and villages and once resettled, barred from all but a handful of professions. The crowded conditions and legal barriers to self-sufficiency led to deepening poverty for the Pale's four million inhabitants. After the reforms of Tsar Alexander II in the 1860s, the situation improved for some Jews but those in the Pale remained trapped by economic hardship and dismal conditions. In 1880, Samuel Polyakov, Horace de Gunzburg and Nikolai Bakst petitioned Tsar Alexander II for permission to start an assistance fund which would improve the lives of the millions of Russian Jews then living in poverty. The fund would provide education and training in practical occupations like handicrafts and agricultural skills and would help people to help themselves.
Permission was granted and the appeal was sent out, signed by Poliakov and de Gunzburg as well as Abram Zak, Leon Rosenthal and Meer Fridland, leading to the establishment of the Society for Trades and Agricultural Labor among the Jews in Russia. In its first 25 years, ORT raised educational standards and provided training to 25,000 Jews across the Russian Empire. People trained as artisans in glass-blowing, learned sewing and gardening, trained as mechanics, cabinetmakers, and furniture designers
The first programs created by ORT were dictated by the demands of the market. In 1909, the industrialization in Russia created a need for artisans, so ORT developed courses for electricians in Vilna where electric streetcars were being introduced. They offered automotive courses in St. Petersburg when the automobile began taking root there in 1910. ORT's training programs varied to meet the needs of Jews depending on where they lived and what the gaps in the workforce were. That flexibility and diversity meant that ORT became an established educational leader in many fields within only its first few decades of existence.
After World War I, ORT opened agricultural schools to provide tools and training for agricultural enterprises. ORT headquarters moved to Berlin in 1921, after the Bolshevik Revolution. Initially, the Berlin office dealt mainly with fundraising and support for Jewish education in other countries where the Jews were less well-off. When the Nazis rose to power in 1933, Jewish children were expelled from German schools. ORT sought to open a school in Berlin but encountered difficulties due to the ban on selling property to Jews. Using its international ties, the British branch of ORT purchased a school building and dormitory in the Moabit quarter of Berlin. It received authorization to open in April 1937 after promising that all graduates would leave the country upon graduation.
Current and ongoing programs
In addition to technical and financial support for its network of schools and programs in more than 30 countries around the world, ORT has in the past run campaigns including:
The Latin America Campaign: In 2006–7, ORT began a major program of new projects intended to create a sense of unity and connection throughout the region, meeting the highly individual and specific needs of each community. This campaign was active in small Jewish communities as well as larger ones. For example, the two ORT Argentina high schools in Buenos Aires are overcrowded and a new high school is planned to accommodate the students there. At the same time, the Jewish community in Montevideo (where ORT operates a university), is getting much needed scholarship funds. In México, ORT founded the first university in Latin America fully focused on strengthening the social sector, ORT University Mexico.
World ORT Kadima Mada in Israel: Kadima Mada is World ORT's arm in Israel and has run since 2007, delivering electronic, science and computer labs as well as technology education to students in schools throughout Israel, most of which are in northern Israel, and in the south of the country close to the border with Gaza. New computer labs and whiteboard technology provide a new opportunity for students. The program works with local authorities, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, and marks a new phase in ORT's commitment to bring the best practical education available to the Jewish State.
Regeneration CIS: This program aimed to bring quality Judaic and general high school education to Jewish communities throughout the independent sovereign states of the region that was formerly the Soviet Union. In order to complete its mission for the renewed program, ORT ensures that equipment and services in existing centers are maintained and fully operational, to upgrade systems to enable them to deliver enhanced options, to provide school-wide training to ensure that all staff is able to deliver the new materials, and to provide ongoing staffing and resources. In the new centers, ORT carries out necessary refurbishments, plans and installs new systems and services, trains staff, and provides ongoing staffing and support.
Locations
North America: ORT America and ORT Canada fundraise for World ORT programs around the globe.
Latin America: Locations of ORT programs in Latin America include: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay.
Asia: ORT ran programs in India and has an affiliate school in Singapore.
Africa: A global aid program previously ran in a number of African countries. The center of operations is currently South Africa with occasional courses in countries including Burkina Faso.
Europe: Schools, courses and fundraising run and take place in countries including: France, United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Belarus.
Israel: The Kadima Mada school network runs in Israel along with extra-curricular and vocational training.