Urge Continued Aid for Trade Schools in Soviet Russia

During the year 1927, eighty-five per cent of the budget of the Jewish trade schools in Russia was covered by the government and other local sources. The contribution of the Joint Distribution Committee toward the support of these schools amounted to ten per cent of the budget.

The importance of the Joint Distribution Committee’s aid for the existence of the Jewish trade schools in Russia is pointed out in a report submitted to David A. Brown, National Chairman of the United Jewish Campaign. According to the report the greater part of the Joint Distribution Committee contribution, $32,000 out of a total of $55,000, was used to feed and clothe the pupils.

The Joint Distribution Committee, in cooperation with the Ica, Ort and Oze, subsidizes thirty-one Jewish trade schools in Russia of which four are in Minsk, four in Odessa, three in Kiev, two in Chernigov, two in Gomel, the remaining sixteen being scattered over a wide territory, mainly in the Ukraine. During the past year the schools had an enrollment of 3,829 pupils of whom 2,886 were boys and 943 girls. The majority of the pupils, 3,175, were Jews with 654 non-Jews in attendance. Of the total of 3,289, 1,893 were inhabitants of the cities and towns where the schools are located, the others having come from small towns that afforded no facilities for learning trades. In 1927 these schools graduated 492.

While in 1924 the Joint Distribution Committee contributed fifty per cent of the entire budget, its support at present is only ten per cent. The government’s subsidy in 1924 amounted to only thirty-eight per cent while today it covers eighty-five per cent of the budget of the schools. The schools are however, not yet in a position to purchase new machinery, tools, pay their teachers full salaries, and make necessary repairs on buildings and the Jewish population has found it impossible to increase the number of trade schools in Russia at present, the report declares.

The present situation of Jewish trade education in Russia places before the outside organizations, such as Joint Distribution Committee, Ica and Ort, the problem of the upkeep of pupils coming from outlying districts; assistance to weak schools to strengthen their position; the introduction of additional classes in new trades in the existing schools; and increasing the number of trade schools in Russia, the report urges.