British Jews Protest Withdrawal of Govt. Subsidy from Jewish School

The withdrawal of a government subsidy from the only Jewish school for girls in Britain brought charges today from officials of the Jewish Secondary School Movement that the Ministry of Education had acted arbitrarily.

Disclosure of the subsidy cancellation came in an announcement by Sir David Eccles, the Minister of Education, in a written reply to Parliament, that he had approved the decision of the London County Council to cease financial support of the Avigdor Secondary School at Stoke-Newington.

In their statement of protest, the governors of the secondary school movement charged that the school had not been given the opportunity to demonstrate its possibilities of success. Noting that Sir David was “well aware of the serious disagreement between the governors of the school and the London County Council on vital issues of fact,” the statement said: “Instead of holding a public inquiry in which these issues could have been investigated and resolved, the Minister has arbitrarily extinguished the school from the state system.”

The governors appealed in their statement, to “all those who are anxious to preserve civic liberties” to support an all-party protest after the current recess of the House, Sir David, in his Parliamentary report, said he regretted that the action would “cause disappointment to the school’s supporters. ” However, he said, “in the interests of the children we have to see to it that schools maintained from public funds reach a proper level of efficiency. “

School officials said that their demand for a public inquiry had the support of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the Anglo-Jewish Association, the Council of Christians and Jews and representatives of the Church of England Schools system.