A conference of 40 Jewish educational experts approved plans here last night to convene in Israel, next July, the first meeting of a permanent World Council on Jewish Education. They voted a budget of $100,000 for the initial planning for the new global organization.
The actions were taken at the conclusion of an all-day meeting of the World Presidium of the Provisional World Council on Jewish Education. Dr. Joseph H. Lookstein, president of Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel, presided at the conference as coordinator of the World Presidium. He said that $60,000 toward the initial budget has been received from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, of which Dr. Nahum Goldmann is president. The Jewish Agency for Israel, he said, contributed $20,000 while participating organizations have pledged the remaining $20,000.
Dr. Goldmann told the conference that the problems of Jewish education were worldwide and that, for that reason, a global organization on Jewish education was necessary. Among the problems facing the organization, he said, were critical Jewish teacher shortages, shortages in teacher-training facilities, and lack of modern instructional materials.
Dr. Lookstein said that the constituent organization in each region will be responsible for implementing the programs of the World Council. These programs, to be organized on a world-wide basis, will involve preparation and distribution of texts and educational materials, assistance in the recruiting and training of teachers, provision of guidance in formulations of educational syllabi in administration of Jewish schools, and, generally, furtherance of all forms of Jewish educational approaches.
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