The Volos Primary School

in 1908 Volos was a rapidly growing city with industry, workers, and therefore a very developed class element
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all this situation had made the air of ultra-progressive air blowing in Volos for the then conservative Greece
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then well,
the city council of the city
affected,
by the enlightened councillor, doctor and intellectual
Vassilis Saratsis,
takes the decision to create the Higher Primary School
in order to,
“wider education of young women and their practical training”.
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Saratsis was a blessing for the working people of Volos,
after the same year,
had played a leading role in the establishment of the Volos Labour Centre
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along with the decision on the Primary School, decided to entrust the management of the institution to a 28-year-old teacher, Alexandros Delmouzos.
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Delmouzos was an excellent educator and demoticist, who left his indelible mark on the educational affairs of Greece.
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this institution operated in a completely different context from the rest of the schools in the country at the time.
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the central element of the school was the schoolgirls
and the lesson was conducted through classroom dialogue
and not with a lecture by the professor from the chair as was customary until then
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there was no scoring or absences.
the lesson was held on sunny days in the open air and the students learned practical knowledge that would help them in their later life
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My weakness was that history was taught backwards. i.e. they started from modern times and went backwards.
revolution of 1821,
Turkish rule,
Byzantium,
ancient Greece
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it goes without saying that all the lessons were in the vernacular language while beating was strictly forbidden...
at a time when beatings were the norm in all schools...
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all these were horrible things for the obscurantists of the time...
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the reactions began with fiery articles against the school and Delmouzos,
with heavy accusations that it teaches atheism and anarchy
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the newspaper “Herald of Volos” started the attacks against the hairless as they called the demoticists at that time.
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articles started with «Mr.Delmouzos does not fast», or that Delmouzos «refuses to embrace the cross»
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hinted that Delmouzos slept inside the nursery and that unheard of orgies were taking place behind the walls.
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On this day, February 10, 1911, the Metropolitan of Demetrias Germanos Mavrommatis
raided a classroom during class
by sneaking in through the service stairs.
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at that time a philologist was giving a lesson and the Bishop began to swear at her in uncharacteristic words because - by hook or by crook - she refused to kiss his hand.
left shouting that «your school is German and French]
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the continuation more or less expected
the metropolitan stirred up the Christian-Labans of the time,
and invited them to a feeding frenzy in Volos.
priests, monks and religious from all over Thessaly gathered in the city,
holding Greek and Byzantine flags and banners,
demanding the closure of the school
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at the same time another luminary of the nation,
Volos MP Miltiadis Boufides, brings the issue to the Parliament.
had the clan seem to be obscurantists.
the brother of Boufides, Nikolaos Boufides,
Congressman too,
had denounced from the floor of the Parliament to Costis Palamas
as a corrupter of Greek youth for writing his poetry in demotic....
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in March 1911 the city council, terrified, takes the decision to seal the nursery school
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the prosecutor of Volos addresses charges against the managers of the nursery school,
against some members of the Volos workers' centre who supported it,
and other demoticists who were persecuted on the occasion.
among them was the poet Kostas Varnalis who was a teacher in Argalasti, Pelion.
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the prosecutor's indictment said that the nursery school taught that:
God is a cucumber
Patrice, whore and hag
and religion is a pimp
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In his testimony the Metropolitan of Demetrias said:
«in the conscience of the whole world,
hairiness,
anarchism,
socialism,
atheism and Freemasonry are one and the same»
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thorough opinion...
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three years to end the case that reached the five-member Court of Appeal of Nafplio
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but what can you do?;
the nursery school was closed and would never reopen...
the obscurantists had won once again....

Author of the article:

Yannis Golias