Nearly half of Argentine Jews receiving Jewish social services never graduated from high school, a new study shows.
The study, commissioned by the Latin American branch of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and released Sept. 9, found that 48 percent of the adults interviewed completed fewer than 12 years of schooling.
It also showed that most of these Jews do not own their home. Thirty-six percent of those surveyed said they owned their home, while the rest are renting or living in other non-owner situations.
Some 822 people from urban areas of Buenos Aires, Rosario, La Plata, Bahia Blanca and Cordoba were interviewed from June to September 2007.
They are some of the 11,000 recipients in Argentina’s Jewish social assistance network, which is comprised of the AMIA Jewish central institution, the JDC, the Tzedaka Foundation, Chabad-Lubavitch and Vaad ha-Kehilot, an umbrella organization.
JDC’s Latin American director, Alejandro Kladniew, and its social programs director, Fabian Triskier, stressed the need to focus social work on Jewish schools and access to housing, as well as dental care for children.
