PRIMARY SCHOOL "ĐURA JAKŠIĆ" (1960)

Primary school “Đura Jakšić” was founded in 1953 at the same time as the schools “Ljuba Nešić” and “Milenko Brković – Crni”. Together with “Ljuba Nešić” it was located in one of the wings of the current High School Center. In 1950s Zaječar had a great rise of population due to migrations, and suddenly needed more space for the schoolchildren. Therefore, the citizens prompted the City Council to vote for the decision in March 1959 to collect donations through workers’ wages. This way, the significant resources were collected and were used as a basis for a loan to build a new school.

The People’s Council analyzed the best locations and concluded the new school should be built in the western part of town, becoming available to the children living in this area. The design for the building was made by the architect Čedomir Bošković. The works begun in May 1959 and were finished on October 15th 1960, while all works were done by local companies. During first school year 1960/61 there were 892 pupils enrolled in 8 grades. Parallel to this, the same building was used for the School for the General Education of Workers and Clerks, founded in 1948, and which worked during evening hours until 1966.

From the very beginning, the school had 18 classrooms, a separate one for physics and chemistry, as well as for biology, technical education, dining room, hall for celebrations, sports hall, offices for teachers, management team, and other smaller multi-purpose rooms (such as one for a radio station).

On an initiative of the Secretariat for the traffic security, in order to rise the level of traffic knowledge and education among children, the school constructed a traffic practicing ground. It is also interesting to mention that the day which was chosen for the official School Day was April 21st, the day when Đura Jakšić (1832-1878) came to teach in the village Podgorac in 1857, since his birthday happened to be during summer holidays. He was one of the best Serbian poets, but also a novelist, dramatist, painter, teacher, a revolutionary and a patriot who was prosecuted and arrested many times. Some of his strongest poems and stories were written about Timok Region.

SOURCES:

1960-1980. 20 godina Osnovne škole “ĐuraJakšić” – Zaječar. OŠ “Đura Jakšić”, Zaječar,1980.

Žarko P. Milošević i Stanko J. Mitić, Osnovno školstvo Zaječara 1830-2003. Istorijski arhiv, Zaječar, 2006.

School Official Web Page: http://www.osdjurajaksiczajecar.edu.rs/