FROM FOUNDATION TO FIRST
GRADUATION
 It
did not take a year since the liberation of Nis from the Turks, when, on
September 27, 1878, the Serbian
Principality Government founded a big High School in Nis on the basis of the decree issued by
Prince Milan Obrenovic.
Carrying out the
decision of Prince Milan , the Ministry
of Education and Church Affairs in Nis provided the first teachers: Svetozar
Atanackovic, Dimitrije Aleksijevic and Milan Jevtic.
 …The Government has decided to open a big
High School in the town of Nis. The first class will start working on October 1st
of the current year. This is announced to people living in the liberated regions
for the sake of knowledge and management…
With great help of citizens and parents,
these broad-minded and enthusiastic teachers organized admission of students
and formed two first-grade classes with 48 pupils on November 20,
1878.
During the first 1878/79 school year,
teaching took place in difficult conditions: poverty, a ruined school
building (a private house), neither teaching aids nor enough chairs and desks.
Parents and citizens provided the necessary charity donations and inventory in
order to overcome these problems and create better working conditions.
The same year is significant for us because on
September 25, 1879 Stevan Sremac was appointed teacher; It is out of
great respect that our school has been named after him since the 1951/52 school
year.
STEVAN SREMAC
 As a teacher of Serbian and General History,
Geography and, above all, Literature, Stevan Sremac had been working for 11
years in the First High School of Nis, i.e. the High School of King Milan I,
which was its subsequent name. As a great enthusiast who was respected by
parents, students and colleagues alike, Sremac left behind an indelible trace as
a teacher, writer and citizen of Nis.
Students of the High School and their
teachers were the main initiators, organizers and bearers of the cultural and
educational metamorphosis of the city. They were given credit for establishing
the first public Reading Room at the end of 1879. The number of member-readers
was rather small at first, but their interest increased in years to come. Besides
reading numerous national magazines, readers had an opportunity to read various
foreign magazines, such as Russian, French, Turkish or German ones. The first
librarian of the City Reading Room was Stevan Sremac himself.
In November 1882, pupils of the High School
in cooperation with their teachers established a literary club called the “Promotion”(Progress).
Even in 1881 there was a literary club, called “Reliance” (Trust, Support),
which was a joint enterprise of students of the High School and the
Teacher-Training School.
In April 1888, the Literary Library grew into
the Students’ Literary Club “Njegos”, the work of which was approved by the
Teachers‘ Council of the School.
 One of the members of the
Administrative Committee and also a promoter of the Literary Club “Njegos”, was
Stanislav Binicki, who became an outstanding composer upon graduating from the
High School and the Music Academy. “The March to the Drina” is one of his works.
Some of our well-known writers, such as
Ljubomir Simic, Vladislav Petkovic-Dis and Borisav Stankovic, published their first literary works in
Njegos while still students of the High School of Nis.
FOUNDING THE THEATRE
Having been liberated from the Turks, Nis was
developing fast. The city was enriched by the newly arrived clerks, doctors,
teachers, judges…The teachers of the High School of Nis initiated the
foundation of
the theatre.
Stevan Sremac, Stevan Niksic-Lala, Spira
Kalnik, together with Milorad Petrovic, a teacher from Sicevo and Mihajlo Dimic,
an actor, founded the theatre under the name of “Sindjelic” at the beginning of
1887.
FOUNDING THE CITY LIBRARY
 At the beginning of 1894, the teachers of the
High School started establishing the City Library. Their efforts were joined by
the will of the Bishop of Nis Jeronim Jovanovic, written on May 13, 1894, in which he bequeathed his own house, the contents of 378 books from his
library and more than 600 volumes to the City Library. |
