A course in the history of Jewish immigration from the Soviet Union has been introduced in Israeli high schools, a spokesperson for the education ministry said on Wednesday.

The new course coincides with the 20th anniversary of the "Great Aliyah," the name for the 1-million-strong wave of Soviet Jews who moved to Israel during the disintegration of the world's first socialist state.

"The phenomenon of the Aliyah of Soviet Jews in the 1970s-90s - its causes, the process and the difficulties of adaptation - was not taught at schools because it is recent history," Gita Rocah said.

The new course will be taught in Grades 11 and 12.

The Education Ministry is currently running teacher training courses in the history of immigration over the past several decades.

Many of the Soviet Jews allowed to leave for Israel chose other destinations, most notably the United States. In 1989, a record 71,000 Jews were granted permission to leave the USSR, only 12,117 of whom immigrated to Israel.

TEL AVIV, February 3 (RIA Novosti)