400 Children from Russia Among 11,000 Youngsters in Youth Aliyah Schools

Nearly 400 children of immigrants from the Soviet Union are among the 11,000 youngsters that are being educated in Youth Aliyah schools during the 1971 year, according to Joseph Klarman, of Jerusalem, member of the Executive of the Jewish Agency and head of its Youth Aliyah department. Klarman, who arrived in this country to attend meetings next week in New York in connection with the reconstitution of the Jewish Agency, said that Youth Aliyah plans to spend almost $9 million during the current year. Of these almost 11,000 wards of Youth Aliyah receiving their education in its youth villages, kibbutzim and day centers, about 1200 were brought to Israel without their parents, including a steadily increasing number from the United States,” Klarman said.

“It is expected that 1100 will be children brought by Youth Aliyah to Israel while their parents still remain abroad; 5400 children of immigrants will be educated in youth villages, 2000 in kibbutzim, 1900 in day centers, 300 in preparatory classes, 290 in foster families, 400 in youth ulpanim, and 400 in foreign language classes.” Klarman noted that many of the children in Youth Aliyah facilities, whose parents are not now in Israel, are followed by their parents within a few years. “The Youth Aliyah program which brings children to Israel in advance of their parents, which is something that has been instituted in the last few years” Klarman said, “has proven to be a valuable impetus to aliyah. Classes for some of these children are conducted in French, English, Russian, Spanish and Persian languages for children who are completing their secondary schooling in Israel and plan to remain in the country.”