Page 116 - Studia Universitatis Hereditati, vol 11(2) (2023)

Figure 2: School children of the elementary school in Koper, 1954-1956 (source: Personal Archive of Rudi Pavlič)

116 al-liberal municipal administrations prevented Yugoslav territorial claims (Peterle Grahonja
the opening of Slovene schools in order to pre- 2004, 96).
studia universitatis hereditati, letnik 11 (2023), številka 2 / volume 11 (2023), number 2
serve the traditional Romance identity of the The school was housed in the renovated ti
coastal towns against the ‘Slavisation’ that was building of the former Italian Scuola Marinara
intensifying with immigration from the Slavic in a street with the bilingual denomination Vi-
hinterland. In the school year 1911–12, the Ciril ale XX Settembre / Ulica 20. septembra (today’s
Methodius Society (a Slovenian cultural and ed- Cankarjeva ulica), which had housed the teach- ta
ucational institution), opened a private Slovene er training school before World War I. In 1951,
primary school in Koper, but in 1919 it was closed the school moved to a new building, which was
by the Italian occupation authorities. From then built in the old town centre in an area called Bel-
on Slovene children could only attend the Ital- veder, where there had previously been a prison. di
ian school (Pahor 1970, 249–260). In the first year it had three classes with about 70
After the liberation in 1945, the reopen- pupils from Koper and the immediate surround-
ing of Slovene schools in Koper and other coast- ings, mostly children of suburban small farmers,
al towns, where the Italian cultural milieu was agricultural laborers and officials. According to
the school records, the beginnings were difficult
predominant, was therefore not a simple matter. because the pupils’ knowledge of the Slovene
Although part of the population was of Slovene language was poor. This was due to the shortage
or Slavic origin, most families intended to con- of and frequent replacement of teaching staff, here
tinue sending their children to Italian schools. but also social reasons, a lack of discipline and
Some simply did not want the hassle of chang- other reasons, which the writer of the records at-
ing their children’s school, others were dissuaded tributed to the parents’ reservations regarding
by practical or logistical reasons and others were school, and to the impact of Italianisation and
indifferent about their nationality. The Slovene Italian education .
6
school was able to come alive thanks to teach- These difficulties continued to plague the
ers who visited parents and convinced them of school for several years, but it is true that the
the need to ‘teach children a language they had school was establishing and strengthening itself
5
forgotten or never learned’ . The presence of the not only as an educational institution, but also
Slovene schools in Koper, Izola and Piran was as a fundamental social institution, embedded
also important ahead of the visit by the demar- in the social dynamics and quite turbulent po-
cation commission. It made the Slovene presence litical developments in the region. These histor- studiauniversitatis
visible in the towns – an argument in favour of ical processes are reflected in the enrolment sta-
5 PAK, 936_2, Osnovna šola Janka Premrla Vojka, Šolska 6 PAK, 936_2, Osnovna šola Janka Premrla Vojka, Šolska
kronika 1945/46. kronika 1948/49; Šolska kronika 1949/50.