Հալէպահայ ուսուցչական միութեան գործունէութիւնը (1938-1946)

Abstract

The paper narrates the inception, halting and resumption of the Armenian Teachers' Union of Aleppo between 1925 and 1946. The author notes that the Union was proclaimed in 1925; however, due to disagreements it failed to take real shape and was halted soon after. Nevertheless, i decade later, some members of the union revived it and were able to address a number of social, economic and cultural concerns of the teachers. The Union, in collaboration with the Educational Committee of the Armenian Orthodox school succeeded in publishing its by-laws, extending the payment of the teachers from a nine-month salary to an all-year-long salary, increasing the salaries of the teachers, enabling the teachers to benefit from state provided provisions during the WWll years, establishing a library, publishing a literary journal and children's books, organizing lectures and social gatherings, developing the pedagogical skills of the teachers, and sponsoring a number of promising secondary graduates so as to recruit them into the field of education. In a nutshell the Union, which brought together Armenian teachers from different Armenian schools in Aleppo, was able to improve the dire conditions of the teachers. However, in 1946, due to the opposing views of different conventional Armenian parties concerning repatriation to Soviet Armenia, the Union halted its activities and had a weak presence in the early 1950s.