The institutional framework of the primary education in Greece during the period of King Othon, 1833-1862

M.A.In this study we describe, analyze and assess the educational system that was valid as the elementary education during the period of the kingship of Othon (1833 - 1862). Based on the given law, unpublished historical documents and the relevant Greek and foreign bibliography we try to present the frame of the founding and function so that we can end p with safe results. After the flourishing of education during the time of Kapodistrias (1828 - 1831) we face a regression because of the anarchy that reigned in Greece for two years after loannis Kapodistrias' violent death. King Othon's regency formed a Special Committee to study the issue of education and in February 1834 an Act was issued "About primary schools" that was based on the French law of Guizot (1833) and was valid up to 1880. According to this order, studying at "primary school or people's school" was made compulsory and the responsibility for the primary school was given to the Municipal Authorities, as far as both the founding and the operation were concerned. Even if this was of a de-centralized and progressive character, it failed because no financial sources were provided, there was no equivalent cultural level at the time, nor the experience, the organization and the scale of priorities of the social needs. It was obviously affected by the Prussian Educational System so it didn't give results, since it ignored the Greek reality. However it was foreseen in the founding law that all children regardless of sex or financial situation would study at school. The Ministry of Education with later circulars tried to improve the legislated system but these acts were more informative than serious. Except for the primary schools there were also secondary ones (grammatodidaskaleia) but there was an attempt to eliminate their number to their total abolition. Private schools were also founded but they didn't have the same results because of the lack of teaching personnel as well as special schools for the practice of the teachers to-be. Providence was also taken for separate schools for boys and girls since ethics of the time didn't allow mingling pupils of both sexes. The category of private schools included kindergartens. The management of the Primary Education had as central organs the Secretariat of Church and Public Education and the General Inspector of Primary Schools. As regional executive organs there existed inspecting committees at country and region level, various other committees and the teachers themselves. The teaching personnel consisted of the teachers that were divided into three grades, among them, women teachers coming mostly from the Filekpedeftiki Eteria (The Society of the Friends of Education) and experienced teachers (grammatodidaskaloi) without any studies at all who taught the basics. A School was founded for the education of teachers, a School of two years study where subjects of general knowledge were taught. This public school didn't function: properly, examinations were loose and it was finally led to decadence. In 1864 the National Assembly abolished it to re-organize it on a new basis. The teacher besides teaching the various subjects had to observe his pupils behavior outside school too. In case a teacher violated his duty or went beyond it, he was punished as it was expected by the law. There was a problem with the payment (the Municipal Authorities didn't pay on time nor they shared the fees that parents paid or gave the money for the rent). Subjects were divided in compulsory and non-compulsory ones according to the teacher's judgment. Lessons of religion were also taught to non-orthodox pupils. The subjects were very useful to the pupils regardless their interest on further education or not. But basically education was limited to Reading, Writing and Arithmetic (just addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) because of the lack of properly educated teachers, the necessary books and the materials and mainly the parents' limited finances that prevented them from educating their children. As far as the educational method that was used was the alternate teaching and in some small schools the co-teaching. As books they used various publisher's editions after having taken the permit of the Ministry of education. In 1856 a competition of writing text books was held and some of the were approved. Every six months, public examinations were held. Their legislated frame was formed according to a series of Ministerial orders but there were problems since many times these examinations were just a typical procedure and the mingling of the Mayor was inevitable. Generally we see that during the kingship of Othon there was the will and the attempts as far as the State was concerned to found the Primary Education on a serious base. Bu various factors such as the lack of able teachers, the financial weakness of the State, the Municipalities and the parents, made it difficult for schools to operate and didn't have the expected results, without this meaning that there was not a certain progress in the attempt to provide the essential education to Greek people