Dalmatian teachers at the third general conference of Croatian teachers in Osijek

Sažetak

The school system of Dalmatia was poorly developed in the early decades of the 19th century, and the education of teachers was far from adequate. It was only after the national revival in Dalmatia and after the foundation of Teachers Training School for Boys, in Arbanasi near Zadar, with Croatian as the language of instruction, that improvement was felt in the work of the primary schools, and in this connection the longing for the expression of national identity in primary, and later in secondary schools. Teachers in Dalmatia were joining the Nationalist party and longed for the annexation of Dalmatia to the rest of Croatia. They followed a prominent patriot, Stjepan Buzolić, headmaster of Teachers’ Training School for Boys in Arbanasi. He was their leader at general conferences of teachers which took place in Zagreb in 1871. and in Petrinja in 1874. A subcommittee was founded in Dalmatia in the course of the preparations for the conference in Osijek, endeavouring to ensure that most prominent teachers from Dalmatia should take part at the 3rd conference in Osijek. Fourteen teachers from Dalmatia took part. They were very active, and in a passionate speech Stjepan Buzolić emphasized the unity of our nation. He suggested that the 4th general conference should take place in Dalmatia in 1881. Dalmatian teachers were given warm reception in Osijek, they paid a visit to J. J, Strossmayer in Đakovo who promised to attend the next conference, which was to take place in Zadar. But the conference never took place because it was forbidden by the authorities. The conferences asserted the unity of our peoples, which did not suit Austria. After the Osijek conference, increasingly greater efforts were made towards the unity of our teachers and the introduction of the Croatian language in our school system, towards which aim the teachers’ conferences in Croatia, the one in Osijek inclusive, contributed their share.