Figure 1.--This drawing in a Serbian book depicts a Christian monastery school in which the boys are learning the Serbian alphabet during the Ottoman era. The book was about the life of Vuk Stefanvic Karadzic. The artist is unknown, but probably representa an early-19th century view. It was exibited in a display at the Volk Museum. Probably the most interesting aspect is the small number of children being taught.

We are not yet sure how the Ottomon conquest affected education in Serbia. It occurred at a time before the modern system of public education developed. What education that existed in Serbia was in the hands of the Church. There was no Otttoman state education system for the general public. Some Balkan people converted to Islam, but this seems to have been a small minority. The Ottomans did seize Christian boys for service as Janissaries. As slaves of the Sultan they received a through education. We do not know what provision was made for the education of those who converted. There may have been madrasahs set up by mosques. The Ottomans did apparently allow local communities and religious groups to operate schools. As far as we know, they did not interfere in the schools set up by the monasteries and other religious groups. Only a minority of Serbian children would have received any formal education during the Ottoman period. While a minority, the Catholic church played an important role in the development of Serbian education. The Jesuit School was founded in Belgrade (1609). The Catholic Church founded a teacher's college in Vojvodina, an area wih a Catholic Hunagrian minority. The Teacher's College in Subotica was the first European-style institution of higher education in Serbia (1689). Ottoman authorities allowed the Catholics to set up the school. During the Napoleonic Wars in Europe (1799-1815) nationlist sentiment began to grow, even in the Ottoman cintrolled Balkans. Reading about the Serbian education in the first part of the 19th century while Serbia was still under Ottoman control, the fact that stands out stringest is how few people had any sembance of education. It was not who common to find whole villages with only one person who could read and write.

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Created: 9:55 PM 3/14/2011
Last updated: 7:04 PM 3/18/2011