As part of the event "Archive Week", organized by the State Archives of Montenegro, the exhibition "Education in Nikšić through archival material" was opened in Nikšić. Authors of the exhibition, Violeta Krivokapic, Dejana Nikolić i Biljana Mrdak, with technical support Radusa Dubljević, on 24 panels, they displayed more than 160 documents indicating the rich and long tradition of education in Nikšić.
"We divided the exhibition into three development periods - from the first school, which was opened in Petrovići in 1861, to 1918, from 1918 to 1941, i.e. the period between the two wars, and from 1944 to the present day. With this exhibition, we presented formal, state education and upbringing", said Violeta Krivokapić on behalf of the author of the exhibition.
According to her, the exhibition can be used for serious research on education in Nikšić, as it contains material that talks about the history of schools, regional schools and departments that once operated as independent schools, interesting facts, events, but also testimonies of how educators survived even in difficult conditions, and provided children with both knowledge and education, taking care of them not only while they were at school, but even how they behaved at home and in society.
According to Dejana Nikolić, who was also the moderator during the opening of the exhibition, the presented documents were collected from the Nikšić Archive Department, the State Archives from Cetinje and from school archives.
Director of the State Archives, Danilo Mrvaljevic, reminded that the "Weekly Archive" lasts from May 27 to 31, and that it is in the year when three very important jubilees in the field of culture and education are celebrated, namely the 50 years of the University of Montenegro, 190 years since the establishment of the first elementary school in Cetinje and 530 years since the printing of Oktoih, the State Archives decided to devote special attention to the development of education in Montenegro.
"We started this work last year, on the eve of the jubilees themselves, with our exhibitions on education that we had in Podgorica and Ulcinj. This year, it is the central theme of our 'Archive Week', and the central event is the all-day program in Nikšić. In Rožaj, for the first time, we will have an exhibition of our archival department, also dedicated to education," said Mrvaljević.
According to him, last year with the 'Archive Week' event, they set certain standards and achieved records in almost all fields, not only in the number of events they organized, but also in content and quality.
"For the first time in the history of the state archive, we organized a serious international scientific and professional meeting, we organized numerous exhibitions, lectures, history and archival classes", said the director of the State Archive.
The exhibition was opened by the President of the Nikšić Municipal Assembly Nemanja Vuković who pointed out that it is of great importance that the State Archives and Archives Department open their doors to citizens in order to introduce them to the cultural and historical heritage "which is often not so easy to get to". He reminded that last year marked the 110th anniversary of Nikšić High School, that one of the first schools in Montenegro was opened in Nikšić, and that Nikšić gave "great professors, intellectuals, artists, philosophers, all thanks to good and quality education".
"There were 1913 students in Montenegro in 20.000, and if it hadn't been for those sinister war times, our education, education and literacy of our people would probably have flourished much earlier. We have a reason to work and build on that basis, to create a future for our children, to put educators and the institution of educators back on the pedestal, to return them to the place where educators should be, to value and respect their role in our society, because our future also depends on education", said Vuković.
As he pointed out, the local administration will continue to help and support events organized by the State Archives in the coming period, because "it is important to preserve our cultural and historical heritage and jointly build the future on the good foundations we have for development and progress."
The flourishing of the Nikšić school system in the 60s. and '70. year
Radovan Damjanović, retired educator and author of numerous books and publications in the field of upbringing and education, recalled the history of education in the municipality of Nikšić.
"The first school in the municipality of Nikšić was opened in 1861 in Petrovići and it only worked for a year, because the next year there was a big war between Montenegro and Turkey, the famous year of Omer Pasha. After three or four years, that school continues its work. The second school that was opened in 1866 was the school in Bogetići, Pješivka. When the war conditions stabilized a little, schools were opened more intensively, so that from 1870 to 1872, schools were opened in Grahovo, that is, Župa Nikšićka, Lukovo and Povija," said Damjanović.
There were 32 primary four-grade schools in the Nikšić municipality in the last decade of the 1913th and the first decade of the XNUMXth century, while the Gymnasium was opened in November XNUMX.
During the Second World War, almost all school buildings were destroyed, and in the sixties of the last century, Nikšić had 23 main schools and a large number of regional departments.
"Today there are not so many home schools because some are closed, since there were no more students in them, namely the schools in Trepče, Nudol and Rudine in Nikšić. The most intensive, the best period and the most work in primary education was in the 60s. and '70. years of the last century because that was when there were the largest number of schools, regional departments and the largest number of students. After that, there is a decrease in the number of students, some regional departments are closed, and some parent schools have also closed," said Damjanović.
He also recalled the history of high school education in Nikšić and that today there are five high schools, but also the history of higher education and the fact that Nikšić today has three university units.
Exhibition of documents
The Faculty of Philosophy in Nikšić, in cooperation with the State Archives of Montenegro, organized an exhibition of documents entitled "Montenegro education through the archives of the State archive 50-190". The authors of the exhibition are Željko Miranović, Jasna Cvetkovic i Mirjana Kapisoda, and on 20 panels, in eight thematic units, more than 150 selected archives and photographs were presented. The first thematic unit refers to the work of elementary schools, the second to the work of the Theological Seminary and the Theological Teacher's School, the third presents documents from the work of the Girls' Institute, while the fourth thematic unit is the Cetinje Gymazija. The fifth thematic unit refers to the Agricultural School in Podgorica, the sixth is Dječji sad in Cetinje, the seventh is the women's workers' school of Princess Jolanda in Cetinje and in Podgorica, while the eighth thematic unit consists of gymnasiums in Podgorica, Nikšić, Berane, Pljevlja, Peć and the Teacher's School in Bake.
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