Základná škola Ožďany

History of our school

According to archeological excavations the history of the village started back in 1297. It is a rich history. The history of schools plays an important role in it.

In Ožďany there was a secondary school, a grammar school or lyceum for many years. It was founded by the landlord Gabriel Bakoš, who transferred the school from Fiľakovo in 1643 and placed it in his castle. After it had burnt down G. Korponay had a new school building built. The lyceum was the predecessor of the Grammar school in Rimavská Sobota. It was working from 1645 to 1853. Several prominent Slovaks worked and studied here, for example Juraj Palkovič - professor of the lyceum in Bratislava, Samuel Reuss – collector of Slovak folk legends, Ján Francisci-Rimavský – poet and writer, Ján Botto – a poet of the Štúr generation, Ľudovít Kubáni – a poet of the Štúr generation, Michal Miloslav Bakulíni – a revolutionist. Samuel Kallaš, Karol Kellner, Ján Chalúpka and others worked here as rectors. In December 1999 a tablet was dedicated to the memory of this Slovak grammar school on the building of the Municipal office in Ožďany. Except for the lyceum there were 3 schools in the village: a state public school, a Roman catholic school and an Evangelic school. In 1924 a new Slovak public school was founded. Based on this gradually our Elementary school in Ožďany came into existence.

The state public school was founded after the liberation of Ožďany in 1945. The nearest state public school was in Rimavská Sobota so another one was started on 3rd, May, 1945 in Ožďany. The deputy in charge was Martin Dinaj. The most suitable building was the Schreiber castle in the middle of the village, which still exists today. Other buildings were not suitable for use.

According to the School Regulations from 1948 the first 3 forms of the State public district school in Ožďany were changed into a secondary school under the name of Secondary school in Ožďany. In the edict the number of classes for the school year 1948/49 was set: 3 elementary and a I. B tri základné a I.B subsidiary.

The eight-year secondary school was established in Ožďany in 1953 after the integration of the late public school and the secondary school.

The number of pupils grew continualy. In the 5Os the number became stabilized aroun 250 – 270 children, in the 60s and 70s it increased up to 350 – 370 detí.

In connection with the growth of the pupils´number, the leading of the school together with the Local National Comitee several times asked the District National Comitee - Department of Schools in Rimavská Sobota for the construction of a new school building. As the Local National Comitee in Hrnčiarske Zalužany asked for the same thing, the District National Comitee did not want to agree to a new school construction before they finaly decided, where exactly to build the new school.

After a great struggle of the leading of the school and the Local National Comitee, the Department of Schools in Rimavská Sobota finally agreed in 1984 to at least a construction of a new school canteen. It was after a years´struggle between the villages Ožďany a Hrnčiarske Zalužany. In the same year the bases for the new school kitchen and canteen were trenched. The District agreed to this construction undre the so called "Z action", meaning that after the admeasuring and concreting the bases by the Building Works, the rest of the work had to be done by the school itself or in cooperation with the Local National Comitee.

In 1986 the Local National Comitee attained from the District National Comitee - Department of Schools a permission to build above the kitchen and canteen one more floor for 5 classrooms, teachers´rooms and a headmaster´s office. Every Saturday 10 – 12 men - mostly parents of pupils worked on the construction.

The new part was constructed by the end of 1989, but to finish it properly it still needed a lot of work to be done. After the change of state system (in November 1989),in 1990 no work was done on the construction.

In 1991 they continued the construcion of the new part. All the employees of the school were looking forward to the new and modern, better equipped rooms. A private company entered into an engagement to finish the construction by the end of school year 1991/1992. This building is today the main building in which we teach at present. Our ex - pupils achieve good results at secondary schools and universities. We would like to ensure conditions that are equal to conditions with schools in towns. We are, according to size, a school of middle type with 160 to 200 pupils, with one class in each form.Up to now we are very succesful in the field of drug prevention. Our pupils do not have much possibilities to enter anonymous groups, that would enable them to access drugs. It is important to give attention to the equipment of middle type schools, so that pupils do not choose schools in towns because of the better equipment. It would be a mistake, if village schools lapsed and were much outran by town schools. Ožďany has a good future development perspective. We would be glad if the children growing up here could achieve knowledge and skills as broad as possible at an elementary school in their village and did not have to commute to town schools from the youngest age.

The school improved its situation after 1 July 2002, when the District Authorities according to the law deliminated the Elementary school and its facilities to the commune of Ožďany. The Commune of Ožďany lead by major Ján Ďurčák reconstructed the building of the school, created more classrooms because another part of the school in the village after the restitution had to be given back to the church. There were not enough room as the classrooms in the historical part of the building were not suitable because of the damp walls. The situation was solved in 2006. The Commune of Ožďany in the same time with the reconstruction and change of the leaking roof built another storey in which there is space for new classrooms, science and language laboratories and for a new teachers´room. At the same time central heating was constructed with connection to gas, because heating with block heaters was not suitable anymore. The building was thermally isolated from outside and newly painted. This year the roofs on the accesory buildings were repaired, because they were leaking. The school yard was also arranged, a playground and an entrance road were made.