Establishment and work of elementary and high schools in the municipality of Novi Grad: past and present

Abstract

In 2020, the municipality of Novi Grad comprises one town and around thirty villages and hamlets, with the overall population of 25, 000. With regard to educational facilities, there is a grammar school, a vocational high school, and there are four elementary schools with around fifteen resspective branch schools. First elementary schools were established and became operational in the mid-19th century (in Novi Grad and Velika Rujiška in 1855). Unfortunately, in the second decade of this century there was severe depopulation recorded in the area. The reasons for such decrease of population are low natality rates and poor economic conditions as large factories and companies terminated their operations or reduced the number of employees at the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century (for example, Sana, Lignosper, Japra, Railway, etc.). The majority of the population moved to European countries (mostly Slovenia, Austria, and Germany), while others moved to Serbia (Vojvodina and Belgrade). Due to this population displacement and low natality rates, the number of children in compulsory education is reduced, resulting in fewer classes. Consequently, some branch schools have been closed, rendering their respective buildings empty and dilapidated. Some schools, which were full of students some fifty or hundred years ago, are now ruins overgrown in weed, with residents living nearby mowing the grass that covers former school yards and playgrounds.