Hagar Association

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The Hagar Association (He: לשוני בהגר) also called Hagar – Jewish-Arab Education for Equality, is an educational organization located in Beersheba, Israel. The organization runs a bilingual school that serves both Jewish and Israeli-Arab children from preschool through sixth grade. It is the only integrated school in the Negev in southern Israel.^[1][2]

The organization also organizes cultural events in the community, and manages Scout Troop Adam, the country's only scouting troop with both Jewish and Arab members.^[3][4]

Hagar Association was established in 2006 by Jewish and Arab community organizers and educators from Beersheba.^[5]

In 2021, Hagar Association launched their Thaqafat initiative, which aimed to organize joint Arab-Jewish cultural events in the wider community. Events have included musical performances, poetry readings, and art exhibitions.^[4]

In March 2022, the group organized a concert in Rahat.^[4] In April, they organized a joint Iftar-Mimouna community meal.^[3][4]

In 2023, the group organized Beersheba Performing Arts Center's first Arab-Jewish concert.^[4]

In 2024, the group plans to stage four traveling art exhibitions with Rana, a Bedouin art center based in Rahat.^[6]

The school serves both Jewish and Arab-Israeli children,^[1] and attempts to balance enrollment so the student population is half Jewish and half Israeli-Arab.^[5]

For its first year of operation in 2007, the school only offered a kindergarten class.^[4][7] By 2009, the school offered preschool, kindergarten, and first grade, serving 72 students.^[5] The following year, enrollment increased to 140, with daycare, second, and third grade classes also being added.^[5] As of 2023, 380 students attended the school.^[4]

Each class has a Jewish and an Arab teacher, with lessons being presented in both Hebrew and Arabic.^[1][2][5]

The school's curriculum includes lessons about shared values in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam,^[1][4] and field trips bring students to places of worship in the city.^[8] Holidays from the three religions and Israel's Independence Day, Nakba Day, and Yom HaShoah are all observed, with lessons focusing on universal values such as responsibility and empathy.^[2]

The school encourages students to undertake projects, such as letter-writing campaigns, to promote the equality of Hebrew and Arabic in the community.^[8]

In 2019, the school also opened the country's first "multi-age bilingual early childhood education center" with USAID financial support.^[7]

The association launched Scout Troop Adam in 2019, numbering about a dozen children at its inception. The troop was open to any children living in Beersheba, and by 2023 the group had over a hundred members.^[4]

• Official website
• Palestinian-Jewish bilingual schools in Israel: Unravelling the educational model