Suspicious Fire Damages ORT School in Kazan

A suspicious fire caused extensive damage to Kazan's only Jewish day school, which houses the ORT Technology Center, on Friday night, July 13, 2001.

The ORT Technology Center opened in September 2000, equipped with the newest computer systems and furnishings, to provide the best opportunities for students to achieve success in the new technology-driven economy of the region. Like many ORT programs in the former Soviet Union and around the world, the ORT technology center was available to adults and others in the community after school hours, enabling them to benefit from the facilities through a variety of courses.

The school is a joint venture of the educational authorities in Kazan, ORT Russia, Russian Jewish Congress, Russian Ministry of Education, Israeli Ministry of Education and Israeli Embassy.

A fire began in a shed near the school. Due to strong winds, it spread to the school's roof and 4th floor. The fire brigade came promptly and managed to extinguish the fire, and thanks to them the building survived. The ORT Technology Center is located in the first floor, so neither the Center, nor the equipment was damaged by fire. However, while extinguishing the fire, the entire building was flooded with water, resulting in serious damage to the ceilings, walls and floors on all levels of the school. Significant repairs are required before the building can be used again.

"There is a necessity now to apply joint efforts of all organizations interested in the school's continued functioning, namely the City Education Department, the Jewish community, the Israeli Embassy, the Russian Jewish Congress and ORT," said Vlad Lerner, Director General of ORT in the Commonwealth of Independent States.

The estimated cost to repair the Kazan school is $200,000.

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA), reported on Monday, August 6, 2001, that Kazan's mayor has since closed the school. Citing NCSJ: Advocates on Behalf of Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States & Eurasia, it stated that the Kazan Jewish community is protesting this action. NCSJ also reported, "The mayor said a Jewish school should not be allowed to operate in a non-Jewish neighborhood."

Kazan is a city of 993,000 people, located in central Russia in Tatarstan.

American ORT and Women's American ORT raise funds to support technical and technological training for more than 300,000 students in 60 countries around the world. ORT is the Jewish world's leader in technology education and the world's largest non-governmental education and training organization. ORT has established schools and resource centers throughout the former Soviet Union. ORT schools of long standing are also found in France, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, South Africa, India and elsewhere. The largest ORT network of schools is in Israel, where 100,000 students attend 140 junior and senior high schools, colleges, and training programs. One in four members of Israel's workforce was educated in an ORT institution.

More than 15,000 students are currently being served by ORT in the US. ORT's three US schools are Bramson ORT College in New York, Zarem/Golde ORT Technical Institute in Chicago; and Los Angeles ORT Technical Institute (LAOTI). ORT Computer Technology Centers in Atlanta, Cleveland, and Miami are connecting Jewish day school students to Jewish education with a computer link, and the ORT Resource Center in New York is helping to bring Jewish education into the computer age.

MORE PRESS RELEASES