One day this last year, I was invited to visit a development town of Kiryat Malachi in the south of the country, to see the cruel face of poverty from up close. This time, the encounter was especially difficult because the impoverished faces were those of schoolchildren. I saw 8-to-10-year-olds as well as youths just a bit older. I arrived in the morning, a few minutes before the children were summoned to enter the school. They waited in the large yard and, when the bell rang, they ran to their classrooms. However, the steps leading to the classrooms were too narrow to accommodate them all. They pushed one another and used their elbows to get to class on time. It took a 8 minutes until all the schoolchildren were in their seats. A few were still panting to catch their breath, others were irritable and annoyed.

The overcrowding was not confined to the stairs. Almost 40 pupils were crammed into each room. In one of the classrooms, the pupils in the first row sat only half a meter (1.6 feet) away from the blackboard. They would need to have elastic necks to keep their heads erect while looking at the blackboard. The air conditioners were not functioning and the heat was unbearable. Outside, it was more than 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit).

One of the teachers told me that the physical conditions make it hard for the pupils to concentrate. He feels that this is the reason that less than 20% of the previous years’ pupils had passed the matriculation exams. Even this is of little help because those few who earned the matrix still cannot dream of enrolling for prestigious university studies — the level of difficulty of college entrance exams precludes this.

At the end of the school day, I accompanied several pupils. They were headed for a warehouse in the city where meals are distributed. These meals usually include a slice of chicken, some rice and a small salad squeezed into a plastic container. Some of the children hesitated, embarrassed to reveal their hardships in front of a guest. Others entered the warehouse eagerly and took their food portion. There were those who asked for another portion for their mother at home. Some asked for a portion for their younger sibling who has nothing to eat either.