Commission of National Education

This article is about an 18th century Polish institution.

For others, see Commission of National Education
(disambiguation).
The Commission of National Education (Polish:

Hugo Kotaj reformed Cracow Academy during 17771780

Bishop of Vilnius, Ignacy Massalski, the rst Chairman of the
Commission of National Education, removed from this post
in 1776 because of the, allegedly, nancial misdemeanour in
Lithuanian schools; subsequently his eminence became one of
the leading members of Targowica Confederation

education, they were also very conservative. In addition,

in 1773 the Pope decided to close down the Jesuit order
(Dominus ac Redemptor).[3] This threatened a complete
breakdown of education in the Commonwealth.
One of the rst items on the parliamentary agenda of the
Partition Sejm (17731775), which acceded to the First
Partition of Poland, was the assessment in how to best
utilise the former Jesuit property and declaration of a rm
intention to the continuity of the education system.[3]

Komisja Edukacji Narodowej, abbreviated KEN,

Lithuanian:
Edukacin komisija) was the central
educational authority in the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth, created by the Sejm and the King Stanisaw
August Poniatowski on October 14, 1773. Because
of its vast authority and autonomy, it is considered the
rst Ministry of Education in European history and an
important achievement of the Polish Enlightenment.[1][2]

1
1.1

The Commission was formally created on October 14,

1773.[3] It was one of the newly set-up Grand Commissions"; organisations with the status of a ministry, albeit with a collegiate structure.[3] Its main mastermind
and chief gure was a Catholic priest, Hugo Kotaj;
other notable supporters included Ignacy Potocki and
Adam K. Czartoryski.[3] Initially, the governing body
consisted of 4 senators and 4 members of the Sejm, half
of them representing the eastern countiesvoivodships of
the Commonwealth (from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania). The rst head of the KEN was Prince Bishop
Micha Jerzy Poniatowski. Although the other members were mostly magnate politicians, the main founders
of the body were the prominent writers and scientists

History
The Genesis

The chief reason behind its creation was that in Poland

and Lithuania, the Jesuits ran an extensive system of educational institutions.[3] Although the Jesuit schools were
fairly ecient and provided the Polish youth with a good
1

HISTORY

Despite the fact that, initially, the KEN had to face a

strong opposition in the Sejm, it was supported by both
the monarch and the Familia party, which accorded it almost complete independence in management of its affairs.

1.2 The Early (Formative) Period (1773

1780)
In 1773 the KEN was granted much of the former property of the Jesuit order, including all the schools, and
many palaces and Church-owned villages.[3] Due to this
fact, the Commission had not only beneted from the necessary infrastructure, but also had its own prot-yielding
farms.

Ignacy Potocki chairman of the Society for Elementary Books

The Commission supervised two universities (the

Jagiellonian University in Krakw and the Vilnius
University in Vilnius), 74 secondary schools and about
1600 parish schools.[3] The third Commonwealths
university, the Lww University, has been lost to the
Austrian Partition.[3]
Soon afterwards Hugo Kotaj prepared a three-levelbased education plan:
1. Parochial schools for peasants and burghers;
2. Powiat schools mostly for children of the szlachta
(nobility); however, children of lower classes were
also admitted;
3. Universities Academy of Warsaw, Academy of
Vilnius and Academy of Krakw

The Russian ambassador Otto Magnus von Stackelberg was persuaded to accept (in the name of the Empress Catherine II) the
law establishing the Commission of National Education

Since all prior education in the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth was conducted mostly in Latin, the KEN
faced the problem of an almost complete lack of
books and manuals. To cope with the problem the
Society of Elementary Books (Towarzystwo Ksig Elementarnych) was, therefore, established.[3] The Society
sponsored competitions for creating the best textbooks.[3]
The scientistsworking on the new Polish language
textbookshad, at times, to come up with the necessary
vocabulary entries. Much of the vocabulary they invented
(in relation to Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics or Grammar) is still in use up to this day.
The Commission also devised several documents, outlining the whole educational process. However, several of
the new principles were considered too novel for that age,
and were often ignored. These included, inter alia, the
principle of 'equality of both sexes in education. In 1780,
the Opposition refused to sign the Statute on Elementary
Schools (which was drafted by Kotaj).

of the epoch: Franciszek Bieliski, Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz, Feliks Oraczewski, Andrzej Gawroski, Dawid
Pilchowski, Hieronim Stroynowski and Grzegorz Piramowicz. They were joined by Pierre Samuel Du Pont
de Nemours, the Secretary of the King of Poland (and
father of the founder of the DuPont company).
In 1774 the Commission took over the Zauski Library.

1.3

The Second Phase (17811788)

After the formative period, during which the prerogatives

of the Commission were established, the KEN started to
convert schools to the new model. The three universities
in Warsaw, Vilnius and Krakw were granted the right of
curatorship over schools of lower degree. This included
the schools which remained under the inuence of the
Roman Church. Gradually, the teachers, who were frequently former Jesuit priests, were exchanged for young
lay teachers - graduates of the three academies. Thanks
to this move, the opposition inside the local schools was
nally broken.

1.4

The Third Phase (17881794)

After 1789 the supporters of reforms in the Polish Sejm

gradually started to lose their inuence. Similarly, the
KEN was deprived of many of its former privileges.
During the Sejm Wielki the Reformers had to sacrice
many of those privileges in order to gain support for the
Constitution of May the 3rd. Ultimately, after the victory
of the Confederation of Targowica, in 1794, the KEN lost
control over most of the schools in the Commonwealth
and many of its members were banished or had to defect
abroad. This included Hugo Kotaj himself, who had to
escape to Dresden.

The Legacy

Although the Commission had only functioned for around

20 years, it managed to completely change the shape of
education in Poland. The Enlightenment-based school
programmes and books inuenced the whole generation
of Poles. Also, although education was still far from being universal, it became accessible to a much wider group
of people, including peasants. Thousands of teachers
trained in lay teachers seminariesbecame the backbone of Polish science during the Partitions and the generation, educated in the schools created and supervised
by the KEN, gave rise to the most prominent personalities of the Polish Uprisings and of politics in Central Europe in the 19th century. In addition, the 27 elementary
textbooks and manuals, published by the Commission,
laid the foundations for the Polish language terminology
in Chemistry, Physics, Logics, Grammar and Mathematics. They were used by all prominent Polish scientists and
authors of the 19th century, from Adam Mickiewicz to
Bolesaw Prus and from the Lww School of Mathematics to the LwwWarsaw School of History. The Guidebook to Chemistry, by Jdrzej niadecki, remained in use
in the Polish schools well beyond the 1930s.
It is often argued, with quite some force, that because of
the eorts of the Commission of National Education, the
Polish language and culture did not disappear into obliv-

ion, during the Partitions of Poland - heavy Russication

and Germanisation notwithstanding.

3 Notes
[1] Ted Tapper; David Palfreyman (2005). Understanding
Mass Higer Education: Comparative Perspectives On Access. RoutledgeFalmer. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-415-354912. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
[2] Norman Davies (28 February 2005). Gods Playground:
1795 to the present. Columbia University Press. p. 167.
ISBN 978-0-231-12819-3. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
[3] Jacek Jdruch (1998). Constitutions, elections, and legislatures of Poland, 14931977: a guide to their history. EJJ
Books. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-7818-0637-4. Retrieved 13
August 2011.

4 External links
KEN in Polish State Archives
Polish Ministry of Education

5 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

5.1

Text

Commission of National Education Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_of_National_Education?oldid=660446345 Contributors: Choster, Owen, Halibutt, Andycjp, Piotrus, Emax, Sam Hocevar, LeeHunter, RJHall, Pearle, Logologist, Woohookitty, Lokyz,
Tabletop, Eubot, Sonitus, SylwiaS, CambridgeBayWeather, Howcheng, Renata3, Gadget850, TheMadBaron, Whobot, Curpsbot-unicodify,
Listowy, Appleseed, SmackBot, Greenshed, Escottf, Mathiasrex, Bons, Umedard, Thijs!bot, Biruitorul, Bot-maru, Iulius, XRiRax,
Thaurisil, M0RD00R, Jotel, Lightmouse, Hadrianheugh, Jacurek, Niceguyedc, Addbot, J04n, GrouchoBot, Omnipaedista, FrescoBot,
D'ohBot, Jauhienij, Orenburg1, Paclaw, Lotje, Mirek12, John of Reading, ZroBot, Piast93, Helpful Pixie Bot, Hmainsbot1 and Anonymous: 12

5.2

Images

File:Hugon_Kotaj.PNG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/Hugon_Ko%C5%82%C5%82%C4%85taj.

PNG License: Public domain Contributors: web (similar: [1]) Original artist: Jzef Peszka
File:Ignacy_Massalski.PNG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/49/Ignacy_Massalski.PNG License: CC BY
3.0 Contributors: Image taken by User:Mathiasrex Maciej Szczepaczyk Original artist: Marcello Bacciarelli
File:Ignacy_Potocki.PNG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Ignacy_Potocki.PNG License: Public domain
Contributors: Original author unknown. Image source: scanned or photographed from album Wilanw Collection. Published by the Wilanw
Palace Museum, Warsaw 2005 Original artist: Anna Rajecka
File:Otto_Magnus_von_Stackelberg.JPG Source:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/Otto_Magnus_von_
Stackelberg.JPG License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.bildarchivaustria.at/Bildarchiv//719/B7936901T7936906.jpg Original
artist: Anonymous
File:Question_book-new.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/Question_book-new.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0
Contributors:
Created from scratch in Adobe Illustrator. Based on Image:Question book.png created by User:Equazcion Original artist:
Tkgd2007

5.3

Content license

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