Colegio Israelita de México ORT (CIM-ORT), the ORT school in Mexico City, has announced it is joining forces with the Colegio Hebreo Sefaradí to create a new institution that will revolutionize Jewish education in Mexico.
The alliance will focus on both institutions’ strengths to build the strongest possible educational project for students in the capital city. The changes will come into effect at the start of the next academic year.
Both schools have the experience and commitment to enable them to face the challenges of the 21st century.
This new institution is the result of the hard work of community leaders, principals, teachers, advisers and experts, including current CIM-ORT Principal and Director Professor Avi Meir (main image), who will be the Principal of the new, united school.
In a joint statement, leaders of the two schools said: “Today these two schools merge, each bringing its own identity and culture to form a single, strong and avant-garde institution.
“Thanks to this merger we will be able to benefit many families by hiring the best teachers, using the best practices and having a stronger economy under the umbrella of World ORT.
“Alliances are what will enable us to face the future, because unity is strength.”
The new school will have the capacity for around 1,000 students from both Ashkenazi and Sephardi backgrounds. It will feature state-of-the-art facilities with the latest in technology, sport and educational spaces, enabling students to access places at leading universities in Mexico and worldwide.
A pedagogical team is working to offer innovative learning, which will allow them to train the students in a warm environment, to maintain the connection with Israel and the Jewish values of brotherhood, love of neighbor and Tikkun Olam.
The merger was announced at a ceremony earlier this month
The School Board and the Council will consist of volunteers from both institutions, who will continue to preserve the values necessary to assure a solid and strong school.
In order to provide the best space for the students, and with the support of infrastructure experts, it was decided that the physical location of the new institution will be the current CIM-ORT facilities, which have the capacity to offer innovative academic programs.
Dan Green, World ORT Director General and CEO, said: “CIM-ORT is a beacon for innovation and child-centered education in our network. This alliance with the Colegio Hebreo Sefaradí marks a significant moment in the school’s past, present and future, and I have every confidence in Avi and his team to take the new institution forward from strength to strength.”
There are believed to be around 10,000 children aged between three and 18 attending Jewish schools in Mexico. CIM-ORT was originally founded 100 years ago and is attended mainly by children from Ashkenazi families. After a number of years working with ORT Mexico, the school officially joined the World ORT network in 2011.
The Sefaradí school is around 80 years old and has almost 500 students, mainly from Sephardi families.
