Ort Insists on Maintaining Jewish Character of Its No, African Schools

The 30-man executive committee of the World ORT Union expressed its unanimous determination to maintain the international character of its program and keep its North African schools primarily schools for Jewish youth, it was announced here today.

The committee, which is composed of representatives from ORT organizations in 16 countries including Morocco and Tunisia, clearly voiced its overwhelming concern to maintain the Jewish character of ORT vocational training schools in these countries. The general endorsement of the assembly was summed up by executive committee president Dr. Aron Syngalowski after a full discussion at which general reports were submitted by Dr. William Haber, president of the American ORT Federation who has just completed a 10-day tour of ORT institutions in North Africa, and by Elie Nataf, president of ORT Tunisia.

Dr. Syngalowski said that “in order to obtain from its friends the funds necessary for its objectives, ORT must be in a position to assure them that the institutions which it supports serve the Jewish population principally.” He warned however, that his organization would not be satisfied with vocational training alone–no matter how great its significance. “It would be unforgivable,” he said, “to overlook the fact that unskilled Jewish workers will be displaced even under politically favorable conditions.

Dr. Syngalowski proposed the following two measures; 1. To help those Jews who have learned a trade to find employment; 2. To help them inasmuch as necessary and possible to establish individual or common workshops. At the present time ORT maintains in North Africa 58 institutions-schools, workshops and complementary courses–in which approximately 5,000 students will be trained this year.