American financier and philanthropist George Soros visited Moscow last week to attend the fifth anniversary celebrations of a major charity undertaking of his, the Soros International Program to Promote Teaching of Exact Sciences.

He met with hundreds of his program's recipients in the Central Club of Writers: professors, teachers, lecturers, and students from across the country.

The most distressing aspect of Soros's visit was his announcement during a speech at an anniversary session. Soros said he would cease individual grant funding because of the government's failure to meet its side of obligations assumed by former Prime Minister Chernomyrdin.

Seeking to inspire Russia to invest its own money in the education system, Soros had proposed to invest in his programs the same amount the government put up. But Russia failed to assign any of the agreed-to sums apart from occasional allocations from authorities. Following a number of deferments, Soros finally decided he would discontinue providing unilateral funding for the programs.

That withdrawal, however, only deals with one of the charity programs. Soros-sponsored inter-school intellectual contests-which help to distinguish hundreds of outstanding young students-will still receive financing, as will scientific conferences, such as the Soros Educational Journal (40,000 copies distributed free). Other goodwill programs, including the Open Society Fund, also continue to operate in Russia.

Valery Soifer, a Russian-born scientist (now a U.S. citizen), supervises the Program to Promote Teaching of Exact Sciences. He is also director of the Molecular Genetics Laboratory at George Mason University in Washington, D.C.

Since the program was launched, Soifer reported, the title of Soros teacher has been awarded to 17,700 instructors who have taught some 3.5 million students. Soros teachers are entitled to 12-month stipends, they enjoy information support, and have the right to attend Soros regional conferences for teachers of exact sciences. That is very tangible assistance.

The average Russian teacher is currently paid 700 rubles (less than $30) a month.

Soros has provided some $250 million to promote Russian science and education in the last seven to eight years.

One may question the wholesomeness of Soros's undertakings in Russian business ventures; rumor has it he regrets his decision to allow the use of his money in the scandalous privatization of Svyazinvest. But there is no doubt about the benefits of his charity programs in Russia.

The attempts of conservative politicians in Russia to discredit Soros and his science and education programs have failed. A parliamentary investigation into his activities-initiated by Soros himself-ended up in his full vindication and an expression of gratitude on the part of the Russian government.

Lavish financing and democratic principles of fund disbursement-including total transparenc-guarantees the remarkable efficiency of Soros charity programs. The Soros teacher title is awarded to those rated the highest in student polls; and grants are provided directly to researchers, bypassing institutes' administrations.

Many Russian scientists point directly to Soros grants as the sole reason for their survival ability to continue working in Russia during its years of crisis. Government' financing of research science has been miserable.

The Soros reform program for humanitarian education also enabled Russian educators to publish some 400 new textbooks, an achievement unmatched in the global history of education. That was especially helpful at a time when almost all old textbooks on history, literature, law, social sciences, and other humanities proved to be outdated and in need of replacement.