Learning Center in Kiryat Shmona Helps Children Catch Up and Thrive After Almost Two Years of War

This past May, as families began returning to Kiryat Shmona after a year and a half of evacuation, Dror Israel, together with the Municipality, opened a new Learning Center as part of the Community Center’s summer day camp. The goal was to help children bridge the immense gaps left by war and displacement. For many of the city’s kids, schooling had been disrupted again and again by sirens, relocations, and the uncertainty of life in hotels far from home. Coming back to Kiryat Shmona brought joy and relief, but also the daunting challenge of catching up.

Kids received the support they needed in English and math, through games, art, and plenty of fun, because after all, it was still summer break!

All summer long, the Learning Center became a second home for 100 children. With the support of Dror Israel educators, kids received academic tutoring, emotional support, and enrichment activities. The center offered a stable routine, a safe environment, and caring mentors, all of which were key to helping children overcome the trauma of displacement and re-enter school with confidence.

Dror Israel educators, ready to welcome each child with a smile.

Yuval, an elementary school student from Kiryat Shmona, shows what this support looks like in practice. When his family was evacuated to Ginosar, he studied at Dror Israel’s “School for Evacuees of the North,” where he was taught by an educator from Dror’s flagship school in Karmiel. This summer, back in Kiryat Shmona, Yuval joined the new Learning Center. When he discovered that his current mentors knew his teacher from Ginosar, he was so excited that they immediately exchanged pictures. Yuval’s smile said it all. In that moment, the thread connecting his experiences during evacuation and his return home became clear, a quiet reminder of the steady presence guiding him through every stage of the journey.

More than just homework help, the Learning Center gave children stability and support as they resettled at home.

The Learning Center is just one part of Dror Israel’s broader effort to help the north rebuild. Summer day camps, youth movement activities, and the young adults who are moving to Kiryat Shmona as part of new Educators Communities are all ways that Dror Israel is helping guide families on their way back home, not just to survive, but to thrive.

 Yuval feels at home once again.