The Pedagogical School from Arad – Expression of the Romanian Nation from Transylvania
Preparandia din Arad – expresie a naţiunii române din Transilvania
Maria Alexandra PANTEA
Şcoala Generală Nicolae Bălcescu Arad
Email: mariapantea82@gmail.com
Abstract
In the last decades of the 18th century and at the beginning of the 19th century Enlightenment ideas entered Transylvania along with the appearance of a generation of intellectuals from within the Greek Catholic Church, people who had their undergraduate studies completed in the Empire; at the same time, in the 18th century circumstances favourable to the development of education were created. As a consequence of the report presented by Nestorovici regarding the situation of the orthodox schools in the Empire, the Emperor demanded in 1811 the foundation of 3 pedagogical schools for the orthodox people in the Empire, in Arad, Pesta and Sânt Andrei.
The pedagogical school from Arad started its activity on 3/15 November 1812 and it was even from the beginning a national school with Romanian as teaching language, although subjects such as Hungarian and Serbian were also introduced.
The pedagogical school from Arad was the first such school meant for orthodox Romanian people. Important cultural personalities such as Dimitrie Ţichindeal, Constantin Diaconovici Loga, Ioan Mihuţ, Paul Iorgovici taught there; they were teachers who studied in the Empire and they were the authors of the first textbooks and also of other important books written under the influence of the Enlightenment. Hundreds of teachers were trained at the pedagogical school from Arad, who later on worked in the Romanian villages.
Key words: pedagogical school, education, schools, teachers, cultural personalities, national fight, bishop, metropolitan, Enlightenment
Cuvinte cheie: preparandia, învăţământ, şcoli, profesori,oameni de cultură lupta naţională, episcop, mitropolit, iluminism