By Ulla Hadar
SHA’AR HANEGEV, Israel—Amid an atmosphere of joy and Zionistic rededication, the rebuilt, rocket-resistant Sha’ar Hanegev elementary school has been reopened in the same compound it had occupied for a half century.
Ceremonies inaugurating the seven-building complex on Thursday, November 5, marked the end of the elementary school’s two-year exile from Sha’ar Hanegev’s educational campus — a move that had been forced by Kassam missiles fired by Hamas terrorists from the nearby Gaza Strip.
Until now, students had been attending classes in crowded caravan trailers set up temporarily in Kibbutz Ruhama, beyond the range of the missiles. Now that the school has been built in a manner able to withstand explosions from falling missiles, authorities consider it safe enough for children in Grades 1 through 6 to resume their studies there. The rebuilt school is located in the educational complex of the Sha’ar Hanegev municipality, adjacent to Sapir College.
Each of the six grades has its own fortified building containing three classrooms, a teacher’s room, a computer classroom, hallway and restrooms. The seventh building is for the administration.
Keeping students of the same grade together–with their teachers and computer facility in the same building — facilitates a more relaxed atmosphere because there is no need for students to go
outside their building, and possibly risk exposure to falling missiles, during the school day.
A school yard for outdoor activities was built in such a way as to provide ready access to shelters for the students in the event of Israeli sirens announcing incoming missiles. Israelis in the Sha’ar Hanegev area have become accustomed to taking shelter within 15 seconds of hearing such “Red Alerts.”
After cutting a red string at the entrance of the school yard, Israel’s Education Minister Gideon Saar toured the new premises and sat in on a second-grade class. He was accompanied by Mayor Alon Schuster and by Israel’s former Minister of Eduction, Yuli Tamir, who had been a close partner to the school administration and the Sha’ar Hanegev municipality in the planning process for the school.
Elementary School Principal Anat Regev told the teachers, pupils, parents, VIP’s and other guests seated on the green lawn bordering the school yard that reopening the school was the
occasion for immense excitement and a feeling of a dream come true.
“We stand here in front of you opening the brand new Kassam proof Sha’ar Hanegev elementary school,” she said. “This school has been planned very thoroughly, down to the smallest detail, in order to create the basis for the best possible environment for each pupil to study…. Many obstacles and difficulties have crossed our road but we developed and stand much stronger today celebrating a new beginning with hopes for a quiet future”
Alon Schuster, mayor of Sha’ar Hanegev, commented that “returning after two years at the temporary premises in Kibbutz Ruhama, everyone returns with their hearts full of hope, believing that here is the place for us to be.”
He noted that he himself had been born in Kibbutz Mefalsim (one of the ten kibbutzim in the Shaar Hanegev municipality) and had studied in this school from first grade to his graduation.
“Our task is to prove to ourselves, that even when difficulties surrounds us, we know how to live together, how to reach out to one another, embrace, to love, to help, to cry, to be happy but also to laugh together,” he said. “I am very proud of the school faculty and the school administration. Through very difficult years they have acted in the most extraordinary and respectful way. The staff knows how to deal with problems that occur along the way. I have the biggest hope for the future here at this campus.”
Saar told the gathering that “as a minister of education I get in touch with all kind of situations, not all of them as joyful as this one today. For me it is a pleasure to meet so many talented and intelligent children and it makes my job very worthwhile.
“In the ceremony the two songs the choir sang were about peace,” Saar continued. “This indicates to me that despite the difficult periods you have all gone through you still have not lost the hope for peace.”
“I do believe that in the future we will reach the point where we ask ourselves why on earth we had to build a fortified school.
“I praise all the citizens and the children of this area that have gone through some tough times, and I am certain that everyone will be happy in this new environment.”
Hadar is Sha’ar Hanegev bureau chief for San Diego Jewish World. Email: hadaru@sandiegojewishworld.com