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Dr Ashley Deans presents Consciousness-Based Education in Israel In late November 2007, Dr Ashley Deans, Director of Maharishi School of the Age of Enlightenment in Fairfield, Iowa, USA, spent a week in Israel as part a multi-nation tour including Ireland, Ukraine, Turkey, Bulgaria, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, England, and Scotland to introduce Maharishi's Consciousness-Based Education to educators. Dr Deans arrived in Israel during an educational crisis that involved seven weeks of a teachers' strike and the publication of the low national level of student achievement. The Jerusalem Post, Education on Line, an Internet news site on education, and Gale Ztahal, the Israeli Army Radio station, attended the press conference held for Dr Deans in Tel-Aviv on 21 November. The Jerusalem Post article in particular reported in great detail the benefits of Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation for students. The same evening Dr Deans was invited by the head of the Educational Department of the Municipality of Cholon to give a presentation on Consciousness-Based Education to 20 principals, supervisors, and teachers. One of the principals and a number of teachers expressed interest in implementing the programme in their schools. On his second day, Dr Deans met with officials of the Peres Centre for Peace. This meeting was a follow up to filmmaker Dr David Lynch's meeting with Israeli President, Mr Shimon Peres, who recommended that he collaborate with the Centre for Peace regarding his initiative to create a group of Yogic Flying students. The response of the officials at the Peres Centre for Peace to Maharishi’s Transcendental Meditation and the plan for implementation of Consciousness-Based Education was very positive. Dr Deans also had a very successful meeting with an official of the municipality of Haifa and the principal of a high school with 1,500 students age of 13 to 18. The meeting took place at the request of the Mayor of Haifa, who had previously met with filmmaker Dr David Lynch and was so inspired that he said he would like to see Consciousness-Based Education implemented at this high school. During the meeting, the principal of the high school agreed to very quickly to introduce the programme to 250 students—a sufficient number to create invincibility for the whole country. In the coming weeks, the faculty, parents, and students will have the opportunity to learn Maharishi's Transcendental Meditation Technique. Dr Deans also gave a presentation about Consciousness-Based Education to 45 principals, supervisors, and teachers in Tel-Aviv. The educators had many questions for Dr Deans, and they enthusiastically expressed their interest in implementing the programme. One of the guests, a brain researcher at a university in Tel-Aviv, was interested in starting brain research on the Transcendental Meditation Technique. At their invitation, Dr Deans met with 25 principals and directors of a youth village that runs many boarding schools for children who come from troubled families. At another youth village, an additional 25 principals and directors showed great interest in Dr Deans' talk and many of them expressed their desire to adopt Consciousness-Based Education. The general manager of the youth village organization concluded the meeting by giving his 'most warm personal recommendation' that all the principals implement the programme. Dr Deans gave one of his last talks at the prestigious Dan Carmel Hotel in the city of Haifa. This was attended by 45 principals, directors, supervisors, and teachers including a university professor who expressed interest in having a research study conducted at her university's Brain Institute on the effect of Transcendental Meditation on children with learning disabilities. The educators at the talk were enthusiastic about Maharishi's Consciousness-Based Education programme, and almost all of them registered for a follow-up meeting the next week. The final presentation of the tour took place at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Jerusalem. Fifteen educators attended, and as in the previous meeting, almost all planned to attend a follow-up meeting the next week. During his visit, Dr Deans introduced the programme to over 160 educators as well as many thousands of people through the Israeli press, presenting to them a proven, scientific solution to the deep educational crises Israel is facing and a means to create national invincibility. Copyright © 2007 Global Good News(sm) Service
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