The American Jewish Committee (AJC) announced it will lead what it termed a “groundbreaking effort” to train American educators and school administrators about antisemitism.
The program will also help teachers and school leaders develop strategies to address anti-Jewish incidents in their schools.
The initiative comes at a time when antisemitic incidents have risen to alarming levels, with 90 percent of American Jews believing antisemitism is a problem in the US, according to the AJC.
The advocacy organization will partner with UNESCO, the USC Shoah Foundation, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights to create an educational training program.
“The sooner we can educate children about antisemitism the better,” AJC CEO Ted Deutch said. “This initiative will provide educators and school principals with the essential tools that they need to teach about antisemitism, dismantle antisemitic stereotypes, and counter prejudices that surface in response to the conflict in the Middle East.”
As part of the training program, educators will have the opportunity to learn from international and American experts about antisemitism, as well as the approaches human rights and global citizenship groups take to counter prejudice and hate speech, the AJC announced.
The training will take place online to make it accessible to teachers throughout the US. It will target classroom teachers, principals and superintendents, who will earn credits for taking each module.
Educators will also have the opportunity to learn about strategies to address antisemitic incidents in schools and respond effectively to conspiratorial thinking, including Holocaust denial and distortion.
The training program is being launched at a time when antisemitic incidents have jumped dramatically in the US, including a 125 percent increase compared to a year ago in New York City.
According to AJC's 2021 State of Antisemitism in America report, one in four American Jews surveyed said they had personally experienced antisemitism in the last year and nearly 40 percent said they had altered their behavior in public to avoid being identified as Jewish.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)