The U. S. Government has agreed to make available surplus equipment for use in ORT vocational training schools overseas. An understanding authorizing such acquisition was formalized last week at the State Department in Washington, according to an announcement made here today by the American ORT Federation.
A statement issued by the Agency for International Development, official agency concerned with foreign aid, noted that the agreement with ORT was the first of its kind with a voluntary agency under terms of the Foreign Assistance Act. The statement noted that the machinery and equipment would be used to help in the technical instruction of “about 30, 000 underprivileged boys and girls in Iran, Israel, Morocco and Turisia–students attending about 450 special trade and educational institutions of ORT.”
Dr. William Haber, American ORT president, in expressing his organization’s gratitude, hailed the agreement as “a landmark in relations between the government and voluntary efforts to assist disadvantaged people in other lands. The Congress, through the Foreign Assistance Act, and the Agency for international Development by implementing its provisions, have again expressed a clear concern with the promotion of overseas welfare programs conducted in the traditional American spirit of voluntaryism.
He expressed satisfaction that ORT was the first agency to benefit under these provisions and declared that the various kinds of equipment received from government supplies would greatly aid ORT trade and technical teaching and permit the extension of such instruction to more students.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
