Vision
We educate and nurture the Jewish children in Bulgaria to be active, caring and life-long learning members of our Jewish community and the society. We do this through providing excellent education and an individualized approach in an inspiring environment.
Every child in the Jewish community must have access to Jewish learning.
Activity
Due to gaining knowledge on Jewish history, culture and traditions at an early age, it became more and more needed, that this education continued on a higher level. The need for a Jewish school became very obvious in the past 3 years not just to community leaders, but to parents as well. The Ronald S. Lauder Jewish Day School just opened its doors on September 15th, 2019 with 83 children, from pre-school to 5th grade. It aims to continue the natural educational experience of the children of the Jewish community, by giving them in-depth Jewish education, Hebrew learning and high-level general education.
The tuition of the Gan Balagan kindergarten and the R.S. Lauder School are already subsidized through Shalom’s own budget, the Ronald S. Lauder foundation and JDC. Both tuitions are about half of what private kindergartens and schools in Sofia cost. OJB Shalom couldn’t risk to ask for tuitions, relevant to other private institutions, because that would mean a big percentage of people asking for scholarships, while at the same time, if Shalom asked for a much lower tuition, that would take away from the opportunity of families, who have higher incomes to give their part. The School’s tuition is based on our experience with the Gan, and the fact that parents have already shown willingness to pay such an amount for the education of their children.
Still, it is our main goal that every child in the Jewish community deserves high quality education and learning Jewish values, so it is our duty to make sure everyone has access to the Preschool and the School.