Razprave in gradivo, Ljubljana, March 1986, No.18 
Slavica Pavlié UDC 37:949.712"1941/1945" 
Slovene School Museum 
Ljubljana, Yugoslavia 
EDUCATIONAL WORK IN PARTISAN SCHOOLS IN SLOVENIA* 
First of all, it may be noted that the specificities of 
educational work in the partisan schools in Slovenia described in 
this article were not characteristic only of the Slovene partisan 
schools, but of all similar institutions that had been founded 
throughout the occupied Yugoslav territory in order to preserve 
national language and culture. 
The causes for such a proliferation of partisan schools during 
the National Liberation War are to be sought long before the 
beginning of the Second World War in 1941, when the progressive 
Slovene teachers gathered in the so-called “Club of the Friends 
of Village Culture,” and earlier, in 1936, in the “Teachers' 
Movement," led by teachers-communists. 
At that time the Slovene people were exposed to strong 
nationalistic and clerical-fascist propaganda. Aware of the 
seriousness of the situation, the Communist Party assumed 
leadership of the country (Slovene nation) and thus created the 
necessary conditions for the founding of partisan schools. 
Among the invaders that divided up the Slovene territory in April 
1941, the Germans were far better prepared than the Italians and 
the Hungarians; nevertheless, all of them had the same aim: to 
root out the Slovene nation, fortify the frontier regions, and 
forever exterminate all that bore testimony to Slovene 
autochthony. The division of the Slovene territory caused changes 
in educational policy. In the areas occupied by the Germans and 
Hungarians Slovene schools were abolished, and Slovene teachers 
dismissed, exiled or imprisoned. Children were taught in the 
language of the invader. The Italians at first promised to allow 
the Slovene children instruction in their mother tongue, but 
later on they merely kept putting off the new regulation till the 
postwar period - provided they were victorious, of course. 
Slovene books and textbooks were systematically burnt, and the 
Slovene children were forced to attend the invaders' schools. 
Various denationalization pressures soon gave rise toa general 
rebellion that grew into an organized liberation movement with 
the establishment of the Liberation Front on 27 April 1941. In 
its programme the Liberation Front underscored also a number of 
tasks connected with the development of Slovene partisan schools 
and with the preservation of the national language and culture. 
The expansion of the national liberation movement and of partisan 
troops was evident also in the life and work of the schools. 
Pupils took part in all kinds of activities that contributed to 
  
* Original: Slovene, 10 pages 
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Razprave in gradivo, Ljubljana, March 1986, No.18 
successful operations of partisan troops. In April 1942 the enemy 
troops concentrated in larger towns with strong fortifications. 
The first parts of the occupied Slovene territory were liberated 
by partisans, the new people's government was established, and 
the members of the National Liberation Boards were elected. The 
Executive Board of the Liberation Front, first located at 
Ljubljana, moved to Suha Krajina and then to Rog. Some basic 
legislation based on the new foundations was necessary to 
regulate the life and work in the liberated areas. One of the 
first of such documents was the Act passed by the Liberation 
Front on 17 May 1942, regulating the establishment of people's 
government in the liberated areas. In the field of education, the 
Liberation Front had passed the following Act: 
Art. 1: Classes in schools are to be given regularly every day, 
the school year lasting up to 27 June 1942. 
Art. 2: All activities contrary to the orientation provided in 
the Act of the Liberation Front are prohibited. 
Art. 3: The teaching personnel as a whole will assume the 
function of electing the principal from among the staff. 
Art 4: The leading school staff members will act according to the 
directives obtained from the people's authorities, thereby 
realizing the fundamental aims of the national liberation 
movement: liberation, complete self-determination of the Slovene 
nation, the democracy of life. 
Art. 5: The leading school staff members should take further 
steps towards the total elimination of all external and 
psychological consequences of the invader's imposition (they are 
to remove the occupier's pictures, flags, textbooks, and cease 
teaching in the enemy language). 
Special meetings were to be organized in order to uphold the idea 
of the successful struggle against the occupier's forces, so as 
to strengthen in them the feeling of patriotism and gradually 
develop the positive attitude towards the new political, social 
and cultural values. Schools had to dedicate some of the regular 
lessons to the special liberation programme. 
Art. 6: The leading Liberation Front staff members were to take 
special care of the financial status of schools and teachers. 
The Act itself comprised the core programme of the organization, 
where a special emphasis had been laid on the contents of 
educational work and the development of patriotism. In this way, 
teachers were given the basic orientation on what to teach and 
how to educate. More attention was paid to the introduction of 
new methods of work in order to prevent the new contents from 
remaining mere propaganda. 
Special meetings were organized for teachers who were in this way 
provided with the basic guidelines for the practical 
implementation of the above-mentioned Act. 
From the organizational point of view, the new Act broke with 
tradition in that the principal of the school was to be appointed 
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by the government or its agencies. Now it was the teaching staff 
itself that elected the leading personnel of the school from 
among the members of the collective. With this the importance of 
collective leadership was underlined. It represented a further 
step towards the democratization of educational policy. 
Nevertheless, the above-mentioned Act did not regulate in detail 
some aspects of the existence of partisan schools, as for 
instance the financial status of teachers and schools themselves. 
This deficiency was often felt later, also after the end of the 
Second World War. 
There were no dilemmas as to the ideology of the new school. Many 
problems arose, however, due to the lack of funds and the 
shortage of teachers who were often regular members of partisan 
troops in addition to their educational work. 
In spite of the fact that the liberated areas could not always 
provide all the security necessary for uninterrupted educational 
work, there is no doubt that the Act on Education, passed by the 
Liberation Front, represented the basic document not only for the 
development of partisan schools but also for the affirmation of 
education after the end of the National Liberation War. 
The second period of the development of partisan schools was 
heralded by the Italian capitulation, which brought to life a 
number of schools in Lower Carnolia, Inner Carnolia and the 
Littoral, where instead of Italian, Slovene became the language 
of instruction. The school system became more centralized, and a 
special school commission was appointed by the Liberation Front. 
Secondary schools were reestablished at Crnomelj, Novo Mesto, 
Kocevje and Sticna. 
The Italian capitulation and the liberation of sizable areas 
enabled the systematic organization of compulsory schooling, 
which was once more interrupted by the great German offensive in 
1943. It was only in February 1944 that the Section for education 
could assume all the responsibility for further development of 
schools, 
Among the weightier tasks of the Section, we must mention: 
- care for regular work of the schools and organization of 
different forms of instructional work (courses, evening courses, 
travelling schools) in the occupied areas; 
- the foundation of regular schools in the areas secure from 
enemy attacks; 
- uniformity of compulsory education in Slovenia; this task had 
been partially carried out also by regional and district 
Supervisors. Within the Section for education, a special 
pedagogical council was founded in November 1944 to deal with all 
the questions related to the contents and methods of 
instructional and other educational work; . 
- organization of special teachers' meetings and conferences, 
political courses, in-service training, and preparation of new 
Syllabuses for compulsory schooling. 
The third period of partisan schools spanned the period between 
the Session of the Slovene National Liberation Council at 
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Crnomelj in February 1944, and the final liberation of the 
country in May 1945. 
The Slovene National Liberation Council founded a special 
administrative board to undertake all the activities related to 
the organization, development and supervision of schools. This 
period of the development of partisan schools was characterized 
by special care devoted to new teachers and the strengthening of 
the function of the parents' council as one of the basic steps 
towards real democratization of the educational and school 
policy. 
It follows from what we have said so far that the organization of 
partisan schools was not based on a stable system of life and 
work, because each individual school had to fight its way through 
the maelstrom of war. Nevertheless, the provisional and temporary 
organization of the elementary school grew into regular 
instructional work after the war. The location of schools had 
changed regarding the movement of the enemy army. The partisan 
schools in Lower Carnolia, Inner Carnolia, White Carnolia and the 
Littoral had the best possibilities for work. In all these 
regions teachers and pupils were in close contact with the 
population of the particular region where the school in question 
was located. 
There were many more troubles with the organization of compulsory 
Slovene schooling in Upper Carnolia and Styria. 
The circumstances during the war were not favourable to the 
introduction of any organizational changes. Nearest to the type 
of partisan schools was the organization of the pre-war 
elementary school. 
A very important role was assigned to the Pioneers’ organization, 
which connected the life in school with out-of-school activities 
and thus took an active part in the liberation movement. Pupils 
and teachers took part in special kinds of competition organized 
under the aegis of the Slovene National Liberation Council. This 
form of instructional work was carried out at the third anniver- 
sary of the establishment of the Liberation Front in March 1944. 
Pupils and teachers competed in different fields of educational 
work; for instance, in the arrangement and cultivation of school 
gardens and in the knowledge of the most important events that 
occurred during the National Liberation War. Pupils were keen on 
collecting medicinal herbs, fruits and different spare materials 
which could be of any help to the partisans. 
Besides their obvious practical usefulness, these activites 
strengthened the feeling of collectivity, affiliation and 
dependency. In the general atmosphere of friendship and 
understanding it was not difficult to sustain the discipline 
necessary in those circumstances. 
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