Original scientific paper
Primary Education and Literacy in Zagreb during World War I
Franko Mirošević
; Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
This paper describes the organization and conduct of teaching in junior primary schools in Zagreb during World War I. Based on the document provided by the Department of Catechism and Teaching and other sources, it follows the implementation of laws and other regulations concerning primary education in schools in the City of Zagreb. It particularly analyzes the extent to which the war resulted in the impairment of teaching quality and obtainment of education in junior primary schools. Daylong classes were abandoned and replaced by classes in several shifts, classes with enormous numbers of male and female students were formed, more absences from classes were ecorded, students were found wandering city streets and squares, and other negative behaviors were registered. Teachers who were drafted and deployed to battlefields were substituted by mostly insufficiently trained female teachers.
The paper demonstrates that the war impeded the organization of teaching, primarily as a result of the requisition of school buildings that were converted to barracks and ancillary hospitals, which caused disruption in teaching and severely impaired the living and working conditions of teachers and students. No significant changes in the
number of junior primary schools and the number of male and female students occurred during the war.
Before the war, Zagreb had 28 junior primary schools, compared to 29 at the end of the war (21 public, 2 religious and 6 private schools). The number of faculty increased from 146 in the school year 1913/1914 to 167 in the school year 1917/1918. Over 80% of students successfully completed their grades and progressed in their education. Students regularly participated in charity and humanitarian campaigns.
Keywords
World War I; organization of teaching; literacy: history of school education; Zagreb
Hrčak ID:
148363
URI
Publication date:
30.6.2015.
Visits: 2.318 *