English title: Unification and reform of the primary education in the first interwar decade. The complementary education in Dr. Constantin Angelescu’s vision
https://doi.org/10.47743/RRISXX.2024-2-4
Issue: 2/2024
Pages: 73-94
Language: Romanian
Author: Mihai-Daniel Botezatu
Abstract: This article aims to provide a brief description of the role of complementary education, in the vision of the liberal Minister of Instruction, Dr. Constantin Angelescu, as part of the process of unification and reform of primary education. Complementary education, initially settled by Petru Poni in 1896, but not implemented, was meant to extend the period of compulsory schooling for children, from four to seven years. Re-introduced by Dr. Constantin Angelescu in 1919, this type of primary education was organized as a form of primary education to strengthen the knowledges acquired in the first four years of primary schooling, while at the same time being a form of practical education, according to regional, local or occupational specificities, in the context of preparations for the implementation of agrarian reform. The issue of illiteracy, which had increased after 1918, was to be tackled through the complementary education, to reduce the illiteracy among the population, especially the Romanian one. Another aim was to provide pupils with civic education, which had become necessary in the context of the introduction of universal male suffrage.
In the Primary and Normal-Primary Education Law of July 26th, 1924, the previous dispositions referring to complementary education were introduced to reconfirm its importance in the process of reforming primary education. Because of financial problems, supplementary education quickly showed its limitations, both after its re-establishment in 1919 and after 1924. Thus, this type of education did not achieve its goals, a situation which became clearer especially towards the end of the first inter-war decade, in the context of the Great Depression.
Keywords: Education, Constantin Angelescu, National Liberal Party, Greater Romania, Interwar period