The first educated women of Montenegro contributed to the change of traditional culture, introducing new habits and customs into the social milieu in which they lived and worked. The spirit of that time and the echo of the lives of the students of the Girls' Institute in Cetinje, shows the research of the professors of the University of Montenegro, Tatjana Novović and Biljana Maslovarić, "The beginnings of women's education in Montenegro. The Girls' Institute in Cetinje", published in the international journal Annales-Anali for Istrian and Mediterranean Studies -Series Historia et Sociologia.
"At the end of 1869, the "Girls' Institute of Empress Maria Alexandrovna" was founded in Cetinje, modeled on similar institutes in Russia, Bulgaria and other regions, and it is located in Njegoševa Biljarda, under the constant supervision of the Montenegrin princess Milena," the paper states. .
Female students aged nine to 12 were enrolled in the Institute, and the school program gradually developed from a four-year to an eight-year school, so that in 1901 it became an Institute "with a thoroughly arranged, detailedly structured plan and program". Based on the sources, the authors Novović and Maslovarić state that the first participants of the Institute were mostly the daughters of "wealthy parents and Montenegrin leaders". Even at the very beginning of the school's operation, based on a competition in the then "Crnogorac" newspaper, the possibility of enrolling girls from abroad, who would pay school fees in the amount of only 100 thalers, was apostrophized.
Special attention in this work, in which the socio-educational context of that time is sketched, is dedicated to the manager of the Institute, Sofia P. Mertvago, who left her mark on the Institute, but also on the development of Montenegrin education and culture, especially the education of women and raising preschool children.
She was appointed manager by the Russian Empress Maria Alexandrovna, by Imperial Decree, in 1888, after which she spent two and a half decades of her life in Cetinje.
Originally from a distinguished Russian family, with an education obtained at the Smolensk Institute, she spoke French, German and English flawlessly, and she gained experience as a manager of the Mariinsky Girls' Gymnasium in Ryazan.
She took a radical approach to the remodeling of the Cetinje girls' school, initially securing financial support from the Russian empress-patron, and in the following years, thanks to her efforts, an increase in annual subsidies followed.
With her teaching staff, she coordinated the Plan and Program of the School. The Constitution and Program were confirmed by Prince Nikola in 1873, with which it was unequivocally underlined that the director/manager of the Institute "receives orders from the duchess and cannot undertake anything without the prior decision of Her Highness" (Article 10).
In the work of the institute, as noted by the authors Novović and Maslovarić, based on Rovinski's records, experts from abroad were involved, in addition to domestic staff. The exams of the participants were attended by princesses Jelena and Ana, once a princely couple, prince Nikola and princess Milena, the bishop and representatives of the diplomatic missions in Cetinje.
With the aim of wider inclusion of girls, she organized a preparatory class in 1894 for the youngest students attending the school, working with them herself, with the occasional help of older students.
"Miss Sofia", as she was affectionately called in Montenegro, had a special interest in the life of women, and while visiting the principality, she came up with the idea of starting the "Workers' School of Princess Jolanda" in Cetinje, in 1901, she designed the program and hired one of institute to work with the students of the School.
Presenting the life of the Institute, where the girls lived separately from their families, the author states that there was a family relationship with a protective attitude of the older "institute" girls towards the younger ones".
"The children spend the day differently than usual... At 1 o'clock in the afternoon they go for a walk outside the town... On Sunday, in the afternoon, two hours are set for receiving parents, and after that the schoolgirls prepare their lessons, take a walk, when the weather is nice , and spend the evening in parties, and mostly in singing"
The schedule of the Institute included time for writing letters to the family. Before sending it, the girls showed it to the Administrators for checking the manuscript and neatness.
At the Institute, Mertvago invested in the teaching staff, the formation of the cabinet and the furnishing of the collections. Thanks to her efforts, the Institute had a physics cabinet, a chemical laboratory, a mineralogical collection, teaching aids for drawing and calligraphy, several fortepianos, a concert piano, and a gymnasium. Nevertheless, of all the subjects, the Headmistress paid particular attention to the teaching of native and foreign languages.
"Namely, in addition to the usual corpus of mandatory subject units from sciences, languages, arts, didactic-methodical areas, "handicrafts" and "farming", contents from the domain of "governance, diligence, orderliness and manners" are particularly highlighted, according to the paper. .
In the testimonials of the institute girls, the first place was highlighted in the assessment of governance, followed by general success. The authors of the paper, Novović and Maslovarić, note that the distinction between then and now can be seen precisely in the leading values and emphasis on the issue of governance.
By 1900, 140 schoolgirls graduated from this institution, of which 86 were from Montenegro, 32 from Boka and Dalmatia, 6 from Bosnia, 3 from Croatia and Albania, one each from Slovenia, Slavonia and Bulgaria.
The Director regularly informed the public about the work of the Institute through the then daily press, especially "Glas Crnogorca", "Cetinjski vjesnik" and others.
Although the success and reputation of the Institute was such that the Austrian authorities opened similar institutions in Dalmatia and Boka Kotorska, it was closed in 1913, after 42 years of existence. The decision of the Russian embassy and the imperial authorities in Petrograd was irrevocable. One of the possible reasons cited by the authors is the conflict in the National Assembly, between the Institute's Management and the Ministry of Education of the Kingdom of Montenegro, due to inconsistent powers in the Institute's management process. The upcoming war events halted the further development of schooling and educational "swings" in the then Montenegrin environment.
Some of the "institute girls" worked as teachers in Montenegro and other South Slavic areas, while some continued their education, most often in Russia, at the philological and medical departments, according to available data and preserved testimonies. With perfect knowledge of foreign languages and acquired education, the students of this school brought a new culture to the closed Montenegrin environment.
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