(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
An official statement of the Polish Government with regard to the application of a numerus clausus limiting the number of Jewish students in Polish colleges and universities was made by Stanislaw Grabski, Polish Minister of Education, yesterday.
The statement was made by the Minister of Education in reply to an interpellation of the Club of Jewish Deputies.
Minister Grabski stated that he was of the opinion that the university authorities are entitled, with the consent of the Minister of Education, to limit, if necessary, the general number of students admitted to the colleges. It is, however, impermissible that this should be done at the cost of one nationality or religion. In accordance with this, the ministerial ordinance of September 25, 1925 was issued to the university and college authorities by the Minister, he stated.
Minister Grabski then cited figures to show that during the last school year there were in the universities of Warsaw, Krakow, Lemberg and Vilna from 34 to 38 per cent Jewish students. The university of Posen had only several applications from Jewish students. The number of Jewish students in the Polytechnic Institute of Warsaw amounted to 9 per cent, in that of Lemberg 23 percent, in the Lemberg Veterinary College 11 per cent, the Warsaw Dental College 15 percent. In view of the fact that the Jewish population in Poland is 10 per cent of the total population, the statistics of the colleges and universities show rather that Christian students were at a disadvantage, he declared.
The Minister of Education also replied to the complaint of the Club of Jewish Deputies that Jewish students who desire to go abroad for the purpose of studying in foreign universities were not granted the facilities provided by the government to other students.
The Minister quoted figures to show that 54 per cent of the passports issued at reduced rates to students who go abroad to study were given to Jewish students. Students did not take up their studies abroad and it became necessary, therefore to demand conclusive proof that the trip abroad is undertaken for the purpose of study. He has information that this was not the case up to the present.
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