A year-opening event was held in honor of 550 trainees of the "Nitzanim" program and their parents this week, led by IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi.
Nitzanim is a program of the "Benetivey Udi" association, in partnership with the Cyber ICT and Defense Division, AKA, the National Digital System in the Economy Ministry, and the Education Ministry - whose goal is to locate and train young people with potential and a technological orientation in the field of software engineering and cyber.
"I am excited to open a new year of activity with thousands of southern youth who take part in the 'Nitzanim' program and are the future generation of the Negev and of the State of Israel. We are partners in the national goal of increasing the representation of the periphery in recruiting for technological professions in Israel, and we wish a successful and fruitful year to the apprentices and the apprentices who join us," according to Mordechai Elgarbali, founder of the Bnetivey Odi association.
The program was established in memory of the late Lt. Udi Algarbali, a communications officer in the paratroopers brigade who fell in battle in Lebanon.
Nitzanim is a broad and reality-changing program for software studies in the geographic and social periphery of Israel. It is designed to help achieve the goal of doubling the representation of the periphery in army recruitment for the technological professions.
The establishment of the program is integrated with the process of moving the IDF and the technological units in particular to the South, while setting a goal that the young men and women of the Negev be integrated into the technological units moving there.
"The Buds program is a reality-changing move in the Negev, which will contribute security, economically and socially. I welcome the establishment of 'Beit Udi' which is currently being established in the city and connects technology and social action," Beersheba Mayor Rubik Danilovitz said.
The program operates on a wide scale in most localities of the South, and is creating a real revolution in the accessibility of advanced software and cyber studies in the periphery.
As part of the program, soldiers and officers from the ICT and Cyber Defense Division (in the SMC, Alpha track) conduct programs for students in grades 7-9 throughout the periphery, and also conduct software enrichment classes for 9th graders.
The activity of the soldiers of the SMC-Alpha unit in the last six years within the schools has led hundreds of students from the periphery to choose a technological future.
These days, the program is expanding to include training of apprentices after 12th grade with the aim of allowing them to be placed in advanced technological positions, as well as "Nitzanim To Tech," which trains veterans without a technological background for leading positions in the hi-tech world.
Mordechai Algeberli noted with satisfaction that his and his wife Georgette's dream is coming true before their eyes. Orit Buravsky, director of the Nitzanim program, stated that it currently has 1,950 trainees, 1,200 of whom are in Galai Middle School, 550 in high school and 150 in pre-military preparatory school.
Technology is shaping the world we live in
According to the director of the National Digital Array, Shira Lev Ami, "technology is shaping the world we live in, above and below the surface, in screens, in the clouds, and everything in between. Those who speak this language, those who feel comfortable with it, will shape the next generation of solutions and reality."
"You don't have to take these basics and become a programmer," she said. "In fact, almost all the roles of the future that will require creative thinking will involve the understanding and exploitation of technology. How do you prepare for such an unknown future? Learning the language of the future."
"Almost all the roles of the future that will require creative thinking will involve the understanding and exploitation of technology. How do you prepare for such an unknown future? Learning the language of the future."
Shira Lev Ami
"The digital array is a partner in the Nitzanim program because we believe in you: the participants who are ready to challenge themselves, learn the languages of the future, and then use these tools to make the world a little better place."
The event was attended by Danilovitz, Lev Ami, IDF Chief Communication and ICT Officer Brig.-Gen. Yossi Charadi, Planning Division head and director of IDF HR Brig.-Gen. Amir Vadmani, Mr. Rubik Danilovich, Deputy Director and Head of Procurement at the Defense Ministry, Mr. Amir Ronan, Director General of the National Digital System, Shira Lev Ami, association founders Mordechai and Georget Elgarbali , "In the paths of Udi" association CEO Ofir Elgarbali, Udi Center chairman Arnon Zo-Eretz, representatives of the high-tech world in Israel and representatives of the local authorities and other dignitaries.