The
Educational Council of UCCA is the central organ of
the Saturday Schools of Ukrainian Studies. It
provides direction, control, information and
textbooks for the schools under its jurisdiction.
During the 1999/2000 school year, it supervised 35
schools with 400 teachers and 2,600 students.
The
Educational Council was organized in 1953 during a
school Conference. These delegates from 22 schools
decided to form a central body that would provide
supervision and give directions for the maintenance
of the Ukrainian private school system. The goal of
the Ukrainian school became "the preservation by the
American Ukrainians of the Ukrainian language and
the culture of their forefathers. Thus they will
become fully worthy citizens of their new country
the United States".
The heyday of
the Ukrainian schools were the 1960’s with 76
schools; students and 400 teachers. The first
chairman of the Educational Council was Prof. Edward
Zharskyi, who served 1953-54. He was followed by M.
Kalyna (1954-61), E. Zharskyj again (1961-1977),
followed by R. Drazhniowskyj (1977-83) and E.
Fedorenko from 1983 until the present.
The networks
of Ukrainian Saturday schools stretch from Boston,
MA to Los Angeles, CA. Most of them have a program
from kindergarten to the eleventh grade, while five
schools have K-12 program. The subjects taught
stress heavily the Ukrainian language, both spoken
and written, literature, history, geography,
culture. Religious instructions is provided but its
optional.
Home
