In recent years, the waves of immigration from the former Soviet Union and from Ethiopia have added more youngsters to Youth Aliyah rosters. The social and educational intervention enables them to cope with the difficulties of integration, to break the cycle of deprivation and poverty and to become productive members of Israeli society. Kiryat Yearim, Ramat Hadassah and Ben Yakir take students who have specific learning difficulties and who are generally two to five years behind the scholastic level expected for their age. Most children come from difficult home environments and many have serious learning and behavioral problems. They are given intensive educational, social and psychological help by the village's teaching and residential staff.
Small classes allow for a great deal of individual attention.
Students generally study at one of these villages for up to three years after which most are ready to transfer into age-appropriate classes in regular high schools. Kiryat Yearim Kiryat Yearim, located near Jerusalem, takes boys and girls aged 12-15. It currently has 180 pupils, of whom around half are immigrants, from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union. All students are integrated into the same program regardless of their origins. Kiryat Yearim offers a range of extra-curricular activities including sports, field trips, arts and crafts, music and dance, as well as special programs on Judaism, Jewish history, Zionism, and Israel studies.