ft For 12-year old Vo Thieu Lien, who miraculously survived when

| U.S. soldiers destroyed her native village, Song My, with its inhabi-

tants, it was like a fairy tale to be whisked from South Vietnam to
"the Kremlin Palace of Congresses in Moscow where the New Year
J tree—the cousin of our Christmas tree—was still decorated from the

k feelings.
v
(
q

(

; Haoeed 17 years ago, the
i. farilan Chamber of Com-
| peace has welcomed 54 delega-
Bons to Bulgaria from the U.S.,
\ Rada. Japan, the Philippines,
2 ma, India, etc. People known
business circles all over the
pond have taken part in these
‘delegations. In its turn, the Bul-
Fare Chamber of Commerce
Stine delegations to Great
t Turke » France, Austria, Greece,
tries’ and to several African
_ Countries. ~

 _ Foreign
ee Turkish, French, Japan-
aS Swedish, Belgian, Yugoslav
St a ustrian—have been set up
and . Chamber of Commerce
P trad €y are helping to promote
€ between Bulgaria and

Y, the Scandinavian coun-:

sections — British,

_ holidays. Her sparkling eyes and sweet smile bear witness to her

| Socialist Bulgaria
| boosts trade ties

The Chamber of Commerce
makes the arrangements for
Bulgaria to take part, in interna-
tional fairs. It has already ar-
ranged for participation in 208
of them. In the last six years the
Chamber has organized 10 rep-
resentative independent exhibi-
tions — in Moscow, Havana,
Cairo, Addis Ababa, Budapest,
Karachi, Teherah, Delhi, Kuwait
and Vienna.

The chamber publishes a ma-
gazine, Bulgarian Foreign Trade,
and a. newspaper, Economic
News of Bulgaria.

(Canada would be doing her-
self a favor and the cause of
world amity a contribution by
establishing lively commercial
relations with Bulgaria and other
socialist countries.)

From News from Ukraine, the
English-language paper publish-
ed in Kiev, we reprint the fol-
lowing interview of the paper’s
correspondent with A. Aleksyuk,
deputy minister of public educa-
tion in the Urkainian SSR, the
second largest republic of the
Soviet Union:

Q: To have an idea of the
level attained by the modern
school in our republic it is neces-
sary to compare it with schools
a few years ago. Tell us please,
about the state of schools in the
Ukrainian SSR in the first post-
war years?

A: The victory of the Soviet
people during the Great Patri-
otic War was also a victory of
Soviet schools that brought up
and educated a new generation.
During those very hard days the
Soviet government took pains to
have the coming generation edu-
cated, well brought up and to
have schools expanded.

In September 1943, the Coun-
cil of People’s Commissars of
the Ukrainian SSR adopted a
special resolution “On Schools
of the Ukrainian SSR. Resuming
their Works during the 1943—
1944 School Year.’’ In this docu-

ment the most urgent steps to_

secure a gradual return to nor-
malcy in the work of schools
were underlined.

In our republic 8,000 schools
were completely destroyed and
10,000 were partially destroyed.
Damages made to public educa-
tion in the Ukraine by the fascist
German invaders amounted to
6 billion roubles.

In 1946, 671 children’s homes
were already functioning and
about 60,000 children were being
cared for in them. More than a
third were children whose par-
ents were killed during the war.

he nation-wide interest in re-
storing public schools can be
seen by the fact that in the 1943
—1944 school year 22,186
schools were opened and 2,759,-

900 pupils were taught in them,
but within a year the number
rose to 26,000 schools and 4,-
500,000 pupils.

Such a quick reconstruction of
schools and other educational
institutions on liberated .territo-
ry was possible only through na-
tion-wide cooperation. Now there
are more than 29,000 primary
and secondary schools in the Re-
public. Half a million teachers
instruct 7,500,000 pupils. Many
of the teachers (53.9 percent)
have a higher pedagogical train-
ing. Today eight grades are com-

: pulsory. ©

Q: What are the main tasks
confronting our schools? Tell us
the ways of carrying them out.

A: One of the main tasks is
the completion in 1970 of the
change to compulsory general
secondary (10-grade) education.
Secondary schools will play an
important role in this.

Our schools are developing as
general educational, vocational
and polytechnical schools. Their
main aim is to give pupils firm
knowledge of the main subjects
and prepare them for their fu-
ture life and profession and help
them choose their vocations
consciously.

Q: An important problem is
the one concerned with a voca-
tional education. In many shcools
pupils are trained in a vocation.
Tell us how.

A: The schools in our republic -
chave gained much éxperience in

carrying out vocational educa-
tion. There are favorable condi-
tions at nearly every school for
conducting lessons at school

-work-shops, laboratories and ex-

perimental farming lots. At fac-
tories in Kiev, Kharkov, Zapo-
rizhya, Dnipropetrovsk, Kriviy
Rih and other towns senior stu-
dents attend classes at shops
specially organized for them.
Here they study the rudiments
of industrial and agricultural

| Schools in Soviet Ukraine

production. In order to deepen
the pupils’ knowledge in acade-
mic subjects special optional
classes beginning from the 7th
grade are conducted.

Q: The process of forming a
personality, bringing up pupils
with initiative and strong will
power always troubled teachers.
How are such traits fostered in
our schools.

A: It is widely accepted that
the ability of a pupil is best dis-
played during his independent
searchings and work. Teachers
therefore study their pupils’ in-
terests and endeavor to have

them learn not parrot-fashion,

but to be more inquisitive and
work independently and cre-
atively at a book and reference
literature.

Q: A lot of attention is given
to developing the aesthetic
tastes of pupils. What is being
done about it?

A: Practice has shown that
the educational process doesn’t
cover all-the forms of develop-
ing aesthetic appreciation in
children. Teachers don’t want to
limit themselves to singing,
drawing and handicraft work as
a means of developing aesthetic
tastes in children. They want
such work to continue in the
classes on literature, language,
history, social studies, geogra-
phy, biology and other subjects.

Now there are 42,000 choirs,
12,000 orchestras, 15,000 drama
circles and studios, and nearly
68,000 amateur arts circles in
schools.

The Soviet state each year
allots a quarter of the state
budget for education, science
and culture. During the last 10
years through state allocations
8,500 schools were built for

2,400,000 children, as well as

hundreds of thousands of pre-
school institutions, palaces: for
Young Pioneers and school chil-
dren.

fl
; these countries,
i

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| TOUR

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4 ~ TWO DEPARTURE DATES

Depart June 29-return July 20 —
Depart Aug.3: return Aug. 24

' TOUR #1 Moscow, Kiev, Ivanova, Ulanovsk, Minsk, Leningrad. First class,
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wen : 4 ; It is our personal view that this is one of the finest and most useful journeys
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~ Ay Leslie Hunt, Executive director of Canada-USSR Association

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write:

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84 Avenue Rd., Toronto, Ont., Phone 922-6864

{|

4

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\
i

eS PACIFIC TRIBUNE—JANUARY 30, 1970—Page 9

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