School History
In the village of Balog nad Ipľom, based on available data, recollections and oral tradition, institutional education of the youth became possible nearly 225 years ago, at the end of the 1770s, in the last years of the reign of Mária Terézia. The regulation for Hungary based on philanthropist ideas was approved by the sovereign in 1777 under the title Ratio Educationis. The aim of this regulation was to organise the existing schools of Hungary into a unified structure within the framework of a state school system, without changing their denominational character and feudal method of maintenance.
The first records from the end of the 1770s report that the school in Balog nad Ipľom was supported by Pál Török, the parish priest of Kamenné Kosihy, with an endowment of 320 forints. In 1780, the cantor-teacher of the Roman Catholic elementary school was Ferenc Marsovszky, and from 1812, Mihály Németke.
The dropping out of compulsory school children was regulated by a ministerial decree issued in 1850, according to which a child subject to compulsory schooling could not be used for herding cattle, geese, or sheep during school hours.
Thus the school also received the German-language summons. In the 1850/51 school year, there were 30 boys and 29 girls subject to compulsory schooling. 25 boys and 27 girls attended school.
The determination of the teacher’s remuneration, the acquisition of teaching qualification, and the protection of the interests of the school and the teacher were not indifferent, as these were among the main points of the 1858 decree concerning education.
The cantor-teacher of the school until 1867 was János Tóth, who also held the office of notary.
From 1867, Emperor and Hungarian King József Ferenc appointed Baron József Eötvös as Minister of Religion and Public Education, who in the following year, 1868, submitted a new bill on popular education, which was enacted by the Upper and Lower Houses. This law, adopted as Act No. XXXVIII of 1868 on public popular education, helped hundreds of thousands of children growing up without education to access learning, and thousands of villages to obtain schools.
Main provisions
- Compulsory schooling for children aged 6‑12 is mandatory in the daily elementary school. For children aged 12‑15, continuation school is compulsory.
- Anyone may establish schools, but the law primarily encourages municipalities to organise schools.
- It ordered the establishment of 20 new state teacher training colleges and 10 training institutes for female teachers. These were three‑year programmes.
- Supervision of popular schools, regardless of who maintains the school, is the legitimate duty of the state.
Types of popular schools
- Elementary popular school – six‑grade
- Continuation school – with five hours of instruction per week
- Civic school – originally six‑grade, later four‑grade
- Higher popular school – this proved not viable
From 1867 to 1881, the teacher and notary in Balog nad Ipľom was József Gergely.
In 1869, the first school board was formed, whose members were: Károly Petrovics, Ferencz Török, János Gyurász, László Petrovics, János Juhász, István Zolczer, János Cseri, Vencel Zolczer and Antal Kakas. Its chairman became György Balázs, parish priest of Ipeľský Sokolec. In 1870, the school building was extended. The teacher received a two‑room apartment, and the classroom was moved to the rear of the building. The school had 7 grades.
In 1881, the school’s teacher became István Szokoli, who worked in the village until 1893. Between 1893 and 1896, László Rozinai taught at the Catholic school, followed by Jenő Balla. From 1897, the school board determined the benefice of the cantor‑teacher: 5 hold of arable land (cultivated by the municipality), 3 hold of meadow, 1 forint tuition fee from each child subject to compulsory schooling, and 4 fathoms of wood. From each house plot, 20 icca of wheat or rye was due. From the farmers, 16 krajcár for wine, and for teaching the continuation school pupils, 30 forints were due.
The school board improved the salary of teacher Mihály Manga, who taught at the school from 1897 to 1899. Each pupil was obliged to deliver 7 eggs and 2 forints.
Mihály Manga was followed by teachers Ferenc Tóth and István Bécsi. The first qualified teacher at the school was László Szilárd from 1905.
In 1907, the school board decided to employ an additional teacher due to the increased number of children subject to compulsory schooling. Thus, on 12 December 1907, Vilma Tomis arrived at the school. Her remuneration and accommodation were provided by the municipality, and teaching began in a rented house.
A significant moment in the development of popular education was Act No. 27 of 1907 (Lex Aponyi), which was the culmination of forced Magyarisation. According to the law, teachers of denominational popular schools with a non‑Hungarian language of instruction could receive state subsidies only if they successfully taught the Hungarian language, i.e., by the end of the fourth grade, non‑Hungarian pupils learned Hungarian at a basic level.
On 2 August 1908, the school board decided to build the new school with municipal assistance. On 7 July 1912, they concluded an exchange contract with the consumer cooperative concerning the Susicky house, according to which the school board paid extra on the old school building and in return received the school site with the building standing on it. However, that building did not serve school purposes, so they decided to rebuild it. A contractor named Gyurász undertook the work. Finally, on 1 September 1913, the new school building was handed over for its intended purpose. The building consisted of 2 classrooms, 1 apartment for the cantor‑teacher, and 1 apartment for the female teacher. The teacher’s apartment comprised 2 rooms and 1 kitchen. The greatest merit for the construction of the new school belonged to László Szilárd, who was called up in 1914 and died a heroic death on 24 November 1914. The two classes were led by his wife, Mrs. Szilárd, until 9 September 1917. Then the school board elected cantor‑teacher József Molnár, and in 1919, József Horváth, cantor‑teacher from Ipeľský Sokolec, who worked at the school until 1 November 1920.
The situation of the school during the First Czechoslovak Republic
The First World War ended with the capitulation of the Austro‑Hungarian Monarchy. Various states emerged on its territory, including Czechoslovakia, which was established on 28 October 1918.
After centuries of development, a significant number of Hungarian inhabitants found themselves in a minority position within a linguistically completely foreign state. The change of regime, as far as the schooling of Hungarians on the territory of the republic was concerned, meant that education fell under the administration of the Czechoslovak Ministry of Education and National Enlightenment instead of the Hungarian Royal Ministry of Religion and Public Education. The task for the Hungarian minority was to meet the biological requirement of bilingualism, i.e., just as before the change of regime learning a European language was among the conditions for their advancement, now learning the state language became indispensable.
After the 1918 change of regime, the first measure of Czechoslovak school policy was to abolish Hungarian‑language schools in areas of Slovakia with entirely or predominantly Slovak population. This was understandable, as the Hungarisation that had appeared after 1867 was most intense in the sphere of schools.
The first important law on the basic institution of school education, the elementary school, was already passed in 1919. This Law No. 189 stipulated, among other things, that where there are 40 minority children subject to compulsory schooling, a minority elementary school must be established upon the parents’ request. The democratic minority provisions of the law were neglected by nationalist school authorities not only among the scattered Hungarian population, but under various pretexts they also dismantled the Hungarian school in many villages with a Hungarian majority.
In Balog nad Ipľom, the Hungarian denominational popular school continued to exist during the First Republic. The objectives of the anti‑minority school policy were promoted on the social level by the Slovenská Liga (Slovak League), founded in October 1920. This chauvinist association, generously supported morally and financially by the state, aimed at the gradual Slovakisation of southern Slovakia. In purely Hungarian villages, it organised a whole series of Slovak‑language schools also by persuading many Hungarian families to apply for such a school through extensive propaganda and especially the promise of material benefits (teaching aids, clothing, meals).
In the 1921/22 school year, there were a total of 854 elementary schools, of which 727 in Slovakia and 118 in Carpathian Ruthenia; the total number of pupils was 94,175. Four years later, in the 1925/26 school year, there were only 806 schools with 91,627 pupils. Law No. 226 of 1922, the so‑called “Small School Law”, made eight‑grade elementary school education compulsory instead of the old six‑grade Hungarian elementary school. Hungarian teachers who had obtained their qualifications in the former Hungary had to take nostrification exams in Slovak language and Czechoslovak homeland studies by 31 December 1923, according to the provisions of Law No. 276 of 1920. The leadership of the General Hungarian Teachers’ Association in Slovakia, founded in May 1921, had great merit in ensuring that these exams proceeded smoothly. From 1921 to 1938, the Teachers’ Association had an excellent advocacy and pedagogical‑methodological journal called Magyar Tanító (Hungarian Teacher).
In Balog nad Ipľom during this period, the school’s teacher was Gyula Cserhalmi, who worked at the school until 1 October 1922. On 8 February 1923, the school board elected Gyula Vajda as cantor‑teacher, who remained in the village until 30 January 1926.
Evolution of the number of pupils
| School year | Boys | Girls |
|---|---|---|
| 1922/23 | 34 | 42 |
| 1923/24 | 33 | 38 |
| 1924/25 | 35 | 40 |
| 1925/26 | 38 | 37 |
| 1926/27 | 34 | 37 |
Teaching lasted from half past six to half past eleven, or half past twelve, because besides school duties, children also faced other family‑related obligations: herding geese, supervising the house, caring for infants in the parents’ absence.
On 15 July 1926, the school board entrusted the teaching to cantor‑teacher Sándor Pintér, who took up the post on 2 August 1926. From then on, every year he organised a collection for the benefit of the Czechoslovak Red Cross, prepared a theatrical performance for the Christmas holidays, and used the proceeds to improve school equipment. In the 1927 school year, the 7th and 8th grades were given leave due to a lack of teaching staff. The number of teaching aids constantly increased, reaching 284 pieces by 1930. The school belonged to the Modrý Kameň school district; the school inspector was Mihály Balažovič. In the 1932/33 school year, the school was already attended by 133 children, so temporary classes were organised. At that time, László Montskó and Montskóné Csala Anna worked here. They organised amateur performances, launched a choral society, and László Montskó became the village chronicler. On 28 April 1933, the school received a new teacher, Berta Mirtusz. Two libraries operated: a teacher’s library and a pupil’s library. Enrolment fees made it possible to expand the libraries.
1938 was a tragic year for the Czechoslovak Republic. Large border territories were ceded in favour of Hungary. In the years 1940‑41, several decrees of the Minister of Religion and Public Education dealt with the schooling of the re‑annexed territories. These decrees sought to continuously adapt the education of the returned territories to Hungarian conditions. They also provided for the retraining of teachers. Teachers working in the re‑annexed territories were obliged to attend courses where they could learn about the Hungarian education system, the system of educational administration, and the management guidelines.
Post‑liberation conditions between 1945‑1953 regarding the development of the school
In the final phase of the Second World War – already during the Slovak National Uprising – the Slovak National Council, seated in Banská Bystrica, issued decrees on 6 September 1944 nationalising denominational and private schools. At the same time, it abolished Hungarian and German schools. The only exceptions were popular schools that had existed before 6 October 1938. Thus popular schools that already existed during the First Republic could continue to operate, but gymnasiums and secondary vocational schools could no longer teach in Hungarian. However, this state of affairs lasted only a very short time, because the Slovak National Council regulated the service relationships of state and public employees by a decree of 25 May 1945. On this basis, individuals of German and Hungarian nationality had to be dismissed from all public offices and institutions. Moreover, the payment of pensions was stopped. As a consequence, hundreds of Hungarian pedagogues became unemployed. According to the Košice Government Programme, adopted on 5 April 1945, Hungarian schools, the press and all manifestations of culture were abolished in May 1945. For: A nation can develop freely only when it holds its own schools in its own hands. The highest degree of immorality, shamefulness and baseness is to desecrate the sanctity of the school for the most miserable purpose, namely to achieve the denationalisation of a nation.
In parallel with clearing the ruins caused by the Second World War, people in all areas of life set about rebuilding the country. This was also the case in Balog nad Ipľom. Teaching began on 15 September 1945 in the two‑class state popular school with Slovak as the language of instruction, with 112 enrolled children of Hungarian mother tongue. Then, based on the law of 10 May 1948 on the introduction of a unified education system, permission to open the Hungarian school in Balog nad Ipľom arrived on 25 November 1948 from the Office of the Commissioner in Bratislava.
This school law defined 3 types of schools
- Level: ages 6‑11 – national school, 5 grades
- Level: 4‑year gymnasiums and vocational schools
- Level: apprentice schools and other schools
Thus, on 7 February 1949, the first Hungarian class of the national school opened with 49 pupils; its first teacher of Hungarian nationality was Tibor Halász. In the 1949/50 school year, teaching already took place in two Hungarian and one Slovak class; from September 1950, only in Hungarian classes taught by Dezider Ferianc and his wife, who left the village at the end of the school year. Taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the law, teachers László Szabó and József Illés from the beginning of 1951 worked on organising a Hungarian state secondary school. The district political and school authorities stipulated that 22 pupils were needed for the secondary school to start. By mid‑summer, however, only 21 students had enrolled. Obtaining the missing one student (László Tamás) caused more trouble and effort than the other 21 together.
The next notable day for the inhabitants of Balog nad Ipľom and its surroundings was 7 November 1951, when the director Frigyes Jacsmenik ceremoniously opened the Hungarian secondary school with 54 pupils. Indeed, another 32 students joined the 22 enrolled ones, who until then had attended the Slovak secondary school in Veľká Čalomija and the Hungarian secondary school in Ipeľský Sokolec.
This shows that organising Hungarian schools involved many difficulties. Besides the shortage of buildings and premises, a serious problem was also the provision of a sufficient number of qualified teachers. Schools struggled with a lack of textbooks, which affected urban and rural schools alike. Initially, teaching was helped by dictation or copying. Textbooks were also unusable in Czech and Slovak schools – the books of the fascist Slovak state. During the next 2 years, about 77 textbooks were published. Only the dedicated, hard‑working teaching staff managed to survive this difficult period.
The formation and development of the school in Balog nad Ipľom from the 1953 school law to the present day
The 1953 school law set very high political goals to be achieved already in school. The unified goal in school was the creation of a socialist society, the socialist human type. At the same time, as of 1 September 1953, the eight‑year secondary school system was introduced. The official name of the school was Eight‑Year Secondary School in Balog nad Ipľom. Its director was teacher László Szabó. In the 1953/54 school year, 19 pupils were enrolled in the first grade, 13 in the second grade, 16 in the third grade, 15 in the fourth grade, 12 in the fifth grade, 34 pupils in the sixth grade, 28 in the seventh grade and 21 in the eighth grade. Pupils were taught in unhealthy temporary classrooms located in various parts of the village. There was a lack of textbooks, aids, and qualified teaching staff. The situation worsened further in the following years.
The 1960 school law already distinguished pre‑school education (both nurseries and kindergartens), a nine‑year school providing basic education, complemented by a school day‑care centre and a school club.
On 23 August 1963, a new school building meeting all requirements came into the possession of pupils, parents and teachers. At the handover of the Nine‑Year Basic School, ceremonial speeches were given by the chairman of the Local National Committee, Gabriel Hegedűs, and the school director, József Illés. The ribbon symbolising the handover was cut by Pavel Gerovsky, chairman of the school committee of the Lučenec district, who also provided great assistance in the construction of the new school building. Teaching in the new school began on 1 September 1963 with 254 pupils, who formed 9 grades, thus creating a fully organised state basic school, whose work was directed by the director and a deputy director. The school director became teacher Imre Pölhös.
In this school year, teaching according to the new curriculum was introduced in the first and sixth grades, bringing qualitative changes in education. However, the biggest change was the free provision of teaching aids and textbooks to pupils. All teachers sought to take advantage of this historically significant step to enhance pupils’ patriotic feelings, improve discipline, and educate them to respect public property. The upward phase of building the Hungarian school network in Slovakia in the 1950s was hit by the first serious series of restrictive measures at the beginning of the 1960s. For certain reasons, Slovak and Hungarian schools began to be placed under common directorates. In this way, between 1961 and 1963, 110 Hungarian primary schools were placed under Slovak directorates. In most cases, this led to the gradual abolition of Hungarian classes precisely in the peripheral areas where the Hungarian population was already subject to increased Slovakisation. However, Hungarian parents protested ever more frequently against such administrative measures. Therefore, the central school authorities stopped the process. Our school was not affected by this. In 1968, the 1960 school law was slightly reformed, four‑year gymnasiums were restored, and free Saturdays were introduced. Schools continued to determine their aims and tasks on the basis of centrally issued guidelines, whereby the school management and every member of the teaching staff gave their utmost in the educational work. The level of education continuously improved, qualified teaching staff taught at the school. In 1971, teacher Antal Cseri became the school director.
Hungarian schools were also unpleasantly affected by another measure implemented in the school system at the beginning of the 1970s, which aimed at the zoning (districting) of schools. By abolishing rural Hungarian schools consisting of two‑three classes, catchment areas of 20‑30 kilometres were created. School buses were not organised for Hungarian pupils. Hungarian parents were forced to send their children to the nearest Slovak school. In 1976, the basic school was abolished in Veľká Čalomija, and in 1977 in Ipeľské Predmostie, Veľká Ves nad Ipľom and Kosihy nad Ipľom. From 1978, the Hungarian school network was threatened by another serious danger. On higher party instruction, the Slovak Ministry of Education prepared a plan according to which, within a short ten years, all subjects in all Hungarian schools would gradually be taught in Slovak, while Hungarian language and literature would be retained as an optional subject. This plan caused great outrage among Hungarian parents. By joint effort and expressed foreign sympathy, the abolition of Hungarian schools was prevented. However, the ruling party did not accept the failure and revived the plan in 1980, but it also stalled. In the 1981/82 school year, the work in the sixth grade began, and in the 1982/83 school year, teaching in the seventh grade started according to the new concept. Subject committees operated at the school and methodology days were organised. Political further training of teachers also began.
In 1984, a new school law was adopted, which outlined the plan for the gradual renewal of the school system and accepted the proposed public education structure. The school law established the basic school as eight years, lower level grades 1‑4, upper level grades 5‑8. After completing the 8th grade, it prescribed another 2 years of compulsory education. The school was named Základná škola v Balogu nad Ipľom (Basic School in Balog nad Ipľom). At the end of the 1980s, in the years just before the change of regime, further attempts were made to teach subjects in Slovak, but these were no longer sufficiently vigorous within the decaying system. From 1 February 1990, the school could welcome a new director in the person of teacher Barnabás Molnár (senior); then from 1991, teacher Magdolna Cseri took over the management of the school.
The 1992/93 school year also brought change. First‑grade pupils could get acquainted with a new method. The new method was the reading and writing instruction programme with heuristic programming by Gyuláné Tolnay. At the same time, a pupil government was established at our school. For the sake of better mastery of the Slovak language, school teacher Rózsa Skabela began teaching Slovak using a new method. Thus, from the 1994/95 school year, children could become acquainted with the still foreign language with the help of picture walls and picture readers. In 1995, after a successful fight against the introduction of alternative education, nationalist educational authorities dismissed several directors of Hungarian schools. At our school, a change occurred only in the 1997/98 school year. Teacher József Molnár became the school director, but after one year he resigned from the director’s post for health reasons. The directorship again passed into the hands of teacher Magda Cseri, and the deputy director became teacher Rózsa Skabela. Subsequently, Rózsa Skabela was director of the school for ten years from 2000.
From July 2010, the new director of the school is Ing. Barnabás Molnár.
Director‑teachers of the Basic School in Balog nad Ipľom between 1951‑2022
| From | To | Name |
|---|---|---|
| 1951 | 1953 | Imre Pölhös (national school), Frigyes Jacsmenyik (secondary school) |
| 1953 | 1956 | László Szabó |
| 1957 | 1958 | Antal Cseri |
| 1958 | 1959 | Zoltán Csala |
| 1959 | 1963 | József Illés |
| 1963 | 1971 | Imre Pölhös |
| 1971 | 31 Jan 1990 | Antal Cseri |
| 1 Feb 1990 | 25 June 1991 | Barnabás Molnár (senior) |
| 1991 | 1997 | Magdolna Cseri |
| 1997 | 1998 | József Molnár |
| 1998 | 2000 | Magdolna Cseri |
| 2000 | 30 June 2010 | Rózsa Skabela |
| 1 July 2010 | 20xx | Ing. Barnabás Molnár |
Members of the school’s teaching staff were
| Agócs Valéria Ábrahám Anasztázia Balázs Éva Balogh Annamária Berta Zsuzsanna Bodonyi András Bodonyi Tünde Bojtos János Bugyi Ferenc Bugyi Szilvia Csáky Károly Cseri Antal Cseri Emília Cseri Hajnalka Csinger Alexandra Csíri István Dénes Sándor Faggyas Marián Gonda Erzsébet Gyurász Szilvia Gyurkovics Mária Gyurkovics Krisztína Huszár Renáta | Illés József Hocsák Emőke Kováč Július Krasznica Ferenc Krasznica Magdolna Lánczos József Lánczos Valéria Lendvay Gabriella Lukács Anita Lőrincz Borbála Medve József Megyeri Erika Mezei Márta Mézes László Id. Molnár Barnabás Molnár Anna Molnár Gizella Molnár Margit Molnár Mária Molnár Mónika Molnár Szilvia Nagy Géza Németh Pál | Németh Zoltán Nozdrovicky Beatrix Oroszlány Erzsébet Pásztori Zsuzsanna Petényi Bernadett Petrezsél László Pölhös Imre Rados Csilla Rados Mária Rég Sándor Rég Ilona Sebény Ferenc Skultéty Andrea Tóth Krisztína Török Ferenc Török Gábor Török Ilona Török Mária Urbancsik Mária Varga Katalin Varga Lajos Zsigmond József |