The Štúrs and Slovak education in the first half of the 19th century

Abstract

In the first half of the 19th century a law of 1806 was still in force in the field of education in Hungary. This law defined the organisation and content of education and was based on the school reforms of Empress Maria Theresa (1740–1780). The state had strengthened its influence on education and adapted it to the changing needs of economic and social life. The political freedom of the Slovak nation, including its language and education system, naturally became a focus for Ľudovít Štúr, who at that time was a key representative of Slovak national life and a leading personality of the Slovak national revival, as well as his collaborators, who in Slovak history were called “Štúr´s followers”. But the Štúr generation did not wait for the state and the law to solve the school issue, but actively contributed to the building of Slovak education by the establishment of Sunday schools, libraries and reading societies. The introduction of Hungarian language as a teaching language in Slovak national schools, however, became a new factor in Hungarian school policy.