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Serbian Education: Serbiam Kingdom (1830s-1910s)
Serbian Education: Serbian Kingdom (1830s-1910s)
Figure 1.--Here we see a Serbian school scene in 1916 during World War I while the country was occupied by the Central Powers. The enscription probably tells us where in Serbia the school was located. The boys wear German style school uniforms. We don't think that was imposed by the MGG ocuoation authorities, but probably the uniform before the Central Power invasion. (We see similar schoolwear after the War.) We are not sure who the teacher is. We suspect he is an Orthodox priest, but we are mnot sure. There aappears to be a degree of affection on the part of the boys.
Serbian independence in the mid-19th century made possible the foundation of a national educational system financed by the government. The first school constitution was adopted (1833). Authorities began adopting national curricula were adopted, as well as the general law on schools, within which special laws were published (for primary schools, trade schools, grammar school, and lyceum). A huge pronlem was the education of girls. One author writes, "Education of girls in Serbia was frowned upon, and even ridiculed during the 1820s. A German traveler, Otto Dubislav Pirkh, who journyed through Serbia in 1829 was shocked by the lack of educated women and asked why girls were not sent to school. He was given the following reply which he recorded: 'They (the girls) will never be in business. They will never get any jobs in the civil service. Why then do they need an education.'" [Poppvitch] The Liceum of Serbian Principality was established in Kragujeva (1838). It was moved to Belgrade in 1841. In 1863, it merged into the Belgrade Higher School. It had 3 faculties: philosophy, engineering and law. Later, it became the University of Belgrade. The Government began working toward a goal of compulsory 6-year primary education for children of both genders. This was the goal set by the Educatlion Law (1882). Finnacing and economic issues limited progress. Only about 20 percentbof Serbian children were attending school (1900). [Ilić] The problem was in tural areas and Serbia was still a largely rural country. The problem of educating girls coninued and persisted even unto the early-20th century. Serbian schools were strongly incluenced by the German education. Germany had one of rhe stringest pubkic education ststens in the world. And despite differences with Austria-Hunagary (ruled by he Geramn-Austrian naonarchy), Serbia used German schools and curicula as a model to build their own system. The Great School was the foundation for the University of Belgrade, Serbia's most prestigious education institution (1905). Serbia provided the spark that ignited World War I (1914). The country was occupied by the Cenral Powers when German troops came to the aid of the Austrians (1915). The Militärgeneralgouvernement (Austro-Hungarian Military General Governorate -- MGG) was severe. The MGG occupation authorities abolished all Serbian institutions of national administration. We assume the same thing happened with the Bulgarian authorities in the south. The MGG supressed cultural institutions and associations. They closed Belgrade University, but schools continued to function. We are not sure this was the case of all schools, in part because state funding must have been affected by the War and occuoation. MGG authorities Attemoted to ban the use of the Cyrillic alphabet. They attempted to replaced it with Latin alphabet, but this proived impossible to implement. [Scheer, pp. 194-95.] MGG aurhorities confiscated art and cultural artifacts from museums, libraries, church treasuries and archives. The MGG authorities removed books judged to have 'suspicious content'. This meant the purging of public and private libraries. The MGG also pirged school curricula any Serbian national content. The MGG set out to 're-educate' Serbian children. MGG authorities dismissed Serbian teachers and initially recruited Austro-Hungarian non-commissioned officers to staff the schools. Subsequently teachers were recruited from Austria Hungary aided by some local teachers. The reachers were given the task of instilling 'loyalty to the Emperor'--a tough sell in Serbia. [Scheer, p. 90.] MGG authorities saw their job as a 'civilizing mission'. Austrian authorities opened improvised schools for Serbian boys at internment camps in Austrian Braunau (about 800 students) and in Hungarian Neszider (with 75 students). [Popović] The MGG did not even trust the small group of Serbian Austrophile collaborators, As a result the MGG consisted if Austrian imperail officers. The role of local collavorators was marginal.[Mitrović, pp. 381-86.]
We are not sure what happened to the schools, but we note one scondary school that was apparently functioning during the occuoation. The teacher invilned looks like a Orthoox priest (figure 1). After the War, Yugolavia was built around the Serbian monarchy.
Sources
Mitrović, Andrej. Serbia in the First World War.
Popović, Ljubodrag. "Osnovno školstvo u Srbiji pod okupacijom" [Primary education under occupation] in Serbia 1918: Godine i stvaranje jugoslovenske države [Serbia 1918 and the creation of the Yugoslav state] (Belgrade: 1989), рp. 35-41.
Popovitch, Ružica. "The education of women in 19th-century Serbia," Serbian Studies: Journal of the North American Society for
Serbian Studies Vol. 29, Nos. 1-2, (2018). pp. 137-50.
Scheer, Tamara. Zwischen Front und Heimat.
"Verordnung gegen die Arbeitsscheu," in Charles Huberich and Alexander Nicol-Speyer, eds. Deutsche Gesetzgebung für die okkupierten Gebiete Belgiens Bd. IV (The Hague: 1915).
