Το βιβλίο χωρίζεται σε δύο ανεξάρτητα τμήματα:

Α) ΤΟ ΠΡΩΤΟ ΤΜΗΜΑ, που συνέγραψε ο ψυχίατρος Κώστας Κογιόπουλος, ασχολείται με την Οθωμανοκρατία την περίοδο από το 1773 μέχρι το 1912 και αναφέρεται στην Εκπαίδευση του γένους αμέσως μετά την κατάληψη της Κωνσταντινούπολης μέχρι την ιταλική κατοχή. Μετά την Άλωση της Κωνσταντινούπολης σταμάτησε και κάθε εκπαιδευτική προσπάθεια. Με την έλλειψη της Παιδείας τα ελληνικά γράμματα δέχτηκαν βαρύτατο πλήγμα για πρώτη φορά στη μακρόχρονη πορεία τους. Θα μπορούσαμε να πούμε ότι η πολιτιστική αυτή ήττα ήταν πολύ μεγαλύτερη και σημαντικότερη από τις ήττες στα πεδία των μαχών.

Στα Δωδεκάνησα τα πρώτα συγκροτημένα εκπαιδευτήρια εμφανίσθηκαν κατά τον 18ο αιώνα. Πρώτη ήταν η Πατμιάδα του Γένους Εκκλησιαστική Σχολή, που ιδρύθηκε το 1713. Άλλα σχολεία λειτούργησαν: στη Λέρο το σχολείο του Δαμασκηνού (1724), το σχολείο της Λίνδου στη Ρόδο (1757), η Σχολή της Αγίας Μαρίνας στη Σύμη (1765), καθώς επίσης στην Κω το 1773 και την Κάλυμνο το 1780 και στη συνέχεια και στα άλλα νησιά.

Στην Κω οι προσπάθειες για την Εκπαίδευση έγιναν με πρωτοβουλία της Εκκλησίας και τη συνδρομή των ευπόρων του νησιού. Με την πάροδο του χρόνου τα εκπαιδευτικά ιδρύματα στο νησί αυξήθηκαν, αλλά την περίοδο της Οθωμανοκρατίας παρέμειναν στον πρωτοβάθμιο κύκλο και δεν λειτούργησε Γυμνάσιο και Λύκειο, όπως στα άλλα νησιά (Ρόδο, Κάλυμνο). Το επίπεδο σπουδών στα εκπαιδευτήρια της Κω ακολουθούσε τους κανονισμούς του Πατριαρχείου, αλλά επηρεαζόταν και από το ελληνικό εκπαιδευτικό σύστημα. Τα παιδιά μέσα στα σχολεία διδάσκονταν την ελληνική ιστορία και τα γράμματα, πράγμα το οποίο αποτελούσε όχι μόνο ένα παράθυρο στη γνώση, αλλά κυρίως τους έδινε την αίσθηση της ιδιαίτερης ταυτότητας που τους διαφοροποιούσε από τους άλλους και τους έκανε υπερήφανους, διότι αισθάνονταν ότι είναι κληρονόμοι και συνεχιστές ενός μεγάλου πολιτισμού.

Το σχολείο έγινε ο βασικός παράγοντας αλυτρωτισμού των Ελλήνων. Τα παιδιά διηγούνταν στους γονείς τους όσα μάθαιναν κρυφά και όλοι μαζί περίμεναν ότι κάποια στιγμή θα ελευθερώνονταν. Οι δάσκαλοι έγιναν οι υποδαυλιστές των ψυχών των μαθητών και κύριοι υπεύθυνοι των αλυτρωτικών ιδεών.

Την περίοδο της Οθωμανοκρατίας τέσσερεις είναι οι βασικοί παράγοντες που καθόρισαν την πορεία της Εκπαίδευσης στην Κω:

1) Το οθωμανικό κράτος, ιδιαίτερα τον 19ο αιώνα που υπήρξε ο «πλέον μακρύς αιώνας» της Οθωμανικής Αυτοκρατορίας κατά τον οποίο οι εξελίξεις ήταν ραγδαίες στο εσωτερικό και το εξωτερικό.

2) Το οικουμενικό Πατριαρχείο Κωνσταντινούπολης, υπεύθυνο για την εκπαίδευση των ορθοδόξων.

3) Η δημιουργία του ελληνικού κράτους το 1829 και η ανάπτυξη της ελληνικής Παιδείας θα επηρεάσει την εκπαίδευση των Ελλήνων της Οθωμανικής Αυτοκρατορίας.

4) Οι τοπικοί οικονομικοί και κοινωνικοί παράγοντες. Το χρόνιο πρόβλημα της Εκπαίδευσης στο νησί ήταν το οικονομικό.

Γι’ αυτό και στην παρούσα εργασία καταγράφεται η ιστορία της Εκπαίδευσης στην Οθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, η εκπαιδευτική πολιτική του Πατριαρχείου και η Εκπαίδευση στο Ελληνικό κράτος, τα πρώτα βήματα και οι προσπάθειες για την Εκπαίδευση στην Κω.

Η εργασία αποτελείται από τέσσερα μέρη και το παράρτημα:

α) Το πρώτο κεφάλαιο αναφέρεται στα πρώτα βήματα της ελληνικής Εκπαίδευσης τον 18ο αιώνα στον ελληνόφωνο χώρο και στις Παροικίες που ήκμαζε το ελληνικό στοιχείο και στις πρώτες προσπάθειες στην Οθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία.

β) Στο δεύτερο κεφάλαιο παρουσιάζεται η ελληνική Εκπαίδευση μετά τη δημιουργία του ελληνικού κράτους.

γ) Το τρίτο κεφάλαιο επικεντρώνεται στην Κω και στην Εκπαίδευση από το 1773 μέχρι την ιταλική κατάληψη.

δ) Το τέταρτο κεφάλαιο ασχολείται με τα άλλα σχολεία, τα οθωμανικά και το εβραϊκό, επίσης στοιχεία που αφορούν το εκπαιδευτικό προσωπικό, τους μαθητές, τα σχολικά κτήρια και τα βιβλία που διδάσκονταν.

Το τελευταίο τμήμα αποτελείται από το Παράρτημα. Εκεί παρατίθενται οι σχολικοί κανονισμοί, το πρόγραμμα μαθημάτων όλων των τάξεων του Δημοτικού και του Νηπιαγωγείου του 1903-1904, ονόματα των μαθητών των περιόδων 1900-1920 από τα βιβλία της Αστικής Σχολής Αρρένων και τέλος πληροφορίες για την Κω από το αδημοσίευτο οθωμανικό Ημερολόγιο της Νομαρχίας Αρχιπελάγους (Σαλναμέ) του έτους εγίρας 1302 (γρηγοριανό ημερολόγιο έτος 1884-1885) καθώς και των υπόλοιπων συνεχών δύο ετών.

Β) ΤΟ ΔΕΥΤΕΡΟ ΤΜΗΜΑ, που αφορά την Ιταλοκρατία, συνέγραψε ο καθηγητής Κώστας Ιωάννου και ασχολείται με την περίοδο της Ιταλικής κατοχής.

Το χρονικό αυτό διάστημα υποδιαιρείται σύμφωνα με τους μελετητές σε τρεις περιόδους.

α) Η πρώτη περίοδος καλύπτει το χρονικό διάστημα 1912-1923, με τις αλλαγές στην ελληνική Εκπαίδευση να μην είναι ουσιώδεις, αφού οι Ιταλοί μέχρι την υπογραφή της συνθήκης της Λωζάννης δεν είχαν νομιμοποιήσει την παρουσία τους στα Δωδεκάνησα και δεν παρενέβησαν στο προνομιακό καθεστώς όπως ίσχυε για την ελληνορθόδοξη Εκπαίδευση επί Τουρκοκρατίας.

β) Στη δεύτερη περίοδο που χρονικά καλύπτει την περίοδο 1923-1936, μετά την υπογραφή της συνθήκης της Λωζάννης κατά την οποία τα Δωδεκάνησα θεωρούνται κτήση της Ιταλίας, οπότε ξεκινάνε οι πρώτες καθοριστικές επεμβάσεις των Ιταλών στην ελληνική Εκπαίδευση και η προσπάθεια από μέρους τους να διαμορφωθεί ένα καινούργιο καθεστώς λειτουργίας της.

γ) Τέλος η τρίτη χρονική περίοδος 1936-1943, είναι η περίοδος της προσπάθειας αποδόμησης της ελληνικής Παιδείας από τους κατακτητές.

Στο τέλος του βιβλίου υπάρχει περίληψη στα αγγλικά, ο επίλογος, η βιβλιογραφία και τα περιεχόμενα.

Η προσπάθειά μας δεν περιορίστηκε στο να αναδείξουμε τα νέα στοιχεία που η έρευνα εντόπισε, αλλά να συμπληρώσουμε και να διασαφηνίσουμε τους σκοπούς και το ρόλο της Εκπαίδευσης τα δύσκολα χρόνια της κατοχής. Η ιστορία της Εκπαίδευσης αποτελεί σημαντική παράμετρο της ιστορίας της Δωδεκανήσου. Έπαιξε καθοριστικό ρόλο στη συνειδητοποίηση της εθνικής ταυτότητας των Ελλήνων. Είναι ιδιαίτερη χαρά για μας αυτή η έκδοση, διότι πιστεύουμε ότι αυτό το βιβλίο έρχεται να συμπληρώσει νέα στοιχεία που η έρευνα ανέδειξε στο μεγάλο θέμα της Εκπαίδευσης και όπως έγραψε και ο Jean Macé (1815-1894) «Αυτός που ελέγχει το σχολείο, ελέγχει τον κόσμο».

Α) EDUCATION IN THE TIMES OF OTTOMAN RULE

The Ottomans occupied the Dodecanese in 1522, succeeding the Knights of St. John. In the 16th and 17th centuries there was no organised educational institution. Church was where every Christian turned to. The role of education was just to serve the religious needs of the Church. Children were taught only reading and writing in churches and monasteries.

In Constantinople after its Occupation, the Patriarchal Great School of the Nation started operating. The first Greek school was founded in 1621 by Thomas Flanginis in Venice; during the 17th century, Greek speaking educational institutions were founded in the Danubian Principalities and later in places where the Greek diaspora was. At the end of the 17th century, with trade at its peak, the first schools in the Greek speaking areas of the Ottoman Empire were founded.

In the Dodecanese, set-up educational institutions emerged during the 18th century. The first was the Patmian Ecclesiastic School of the Nation, which was founded in 1713. In the other islands schools started operating: the school of Damaskinos in Leros (1724), the school of Lindos in Rhodes (1757), the school of Santa Marina in Symi (1765), in Kos (1773), in Kalymnos (1780) and later in the rest of the islands.

The Ottoman Empire was a medley of nationalities and religions, based on the Millet system, where each religious community attended to their education on their own; Ottomans did not care about it.

The traditional Ottoman educational system was based on the madrasas and served the intensely theocratic regime with medieval social structures. In all levels of education there were religious schools, which operated according to the principles of Islam.

Many Christian Churches, apart from the Orthodox and the Armenian ones, operated in the Empire. To this fact contributed, among other things, the Capitulations of the Europeans, which dated back in 1536, during the rule of Sultan Suleiman Ι the Magnificent. They facilitated the foundation of Catholic and Lutheran educational and charitable institutions, aiming at penetration of their doctrines in the East. Their intentions were not only religious, but economic-political as well. The religious propaganda along with the western educational penetration competed the Orthodox educational institutes and caused interventions of the European forces to the interior affairs of the Empire.

Τhe Ottoman Occupation deprived the Greeks and other peoples of the Empire from scientific discoveries and the great historical movements of Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment, even that of the Industrial Revolution.

The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in 1774 brought encouragement to the Christian population. Shipping and trade were developed and a Greek-Orthodox middle class was created in the islands.

At the end of the 18th century, the intellectual and ideological movement of Enlightenment reached the Greek speaking area, contributing to the national rebirth and preparing the Greek Revolution.

In the 19th century, from 1839 to 1876, the great administrative, tax and educational reforms took place in the Ottoman state, known as the Tanzimat. The need for a modern, powerful army and effective administration, as well as the pressure of the Great Forces obliged the Empire to proceed to reforms. The state had to be modernized. The changes were not the result of social rearrangements and agitations or from rifts, but they were imposed from above and by external factors.

The educational reforms were the most difficult part of the Tanzimat. A secular educational system was attempted, which would function according to western models. The westernization and secularization of education came up against the Islamic clerics, but against the other religions too, who were ambivalent about these changes.

The Christians were satisfied, because they gained rights and stopped being second-class citizens. The Patriarchate was the regulating factor between the Ottoman power and the Orthodox subjects and at the same time it had jurisdiction over the Christians.

Depending on the circumstances, the Ottomans used the Patriarchate to impose their own policy on Christian subjects. Benefiting from the social influence of religion, they took advantage of the institution and the machinery of the Patriarchate, not only administratively but also financially.

The secularization of the Ottoman state caused in its turn changes in the traditional administrative system of the Patriarchate. These changes put at risk the special position which the Christian Church held within the framework of the Ottoman Empire and its role as one of the organizational foundations of the Empire. The creation of the Permanent Mixed Council and the participation of laymen in education blocked the Patriarchate’s primacy from the Greek community administration and educational matters alike.

In 1869 the General Education Law came into force, in which it is mentioned that the state has to provide unified education to all Ottoman citizens. Education was free and compulsory, but subject to the control of the Ottoman state. Church was confined to its educational role and started losing its privileges slowly but steadily.

The Tanzimat tried to cure the great ills of the Empire, namely bad administration, bribery, favouritism and authority abuse. It prolonged the Empire’s existence, but its implementation was delayed and followed the local peculiarities. It tried to create a secular educational system, which would function according to the western models. In the multinational Empire however, many different educational systems were simultaneously created, which were mainly determined by the creed and other factors. Τhis resulted in breaking education to pieces and the failure of the unification system, which Ottomanism tried to implement. The aspiration of a unified education for the whole Empire would become the bond among the nationalities in the great Ottoman homeland.

The role of religious Millets fell into disuse with the Tanzimat and secular nationalistic movements were developed. Nationalism threatened directly the imperial universality with which the Patriarchate identified. The religious identity was replaced by the national one. After 1870 and the secession of Bulgaria, the terms Rum and Orthodox were not identical any more. In the collapsing Empire the minorities fortified their national identity, they were heartened, while irredentism and secession tendencies were created; the theory of Ottomanism had failed.

This marked the end of the Tanzimat. Sultan Abdul Hamid II adopted terrorism and slaughters until he was overthrown by the Young Turks. The domination of Young Turks and nationalism in 1909 made the fragile relations among the national-religious groups in the Empire even worse. The Italo-Turkish war, the First Balkan War, later World War I and the defeat of the Ottoman Empire brought its break up. Kemal’s victory led to the separation of Church and state and the abolition of all religious and financial privileges, with unified education strictly supervised by the state.

In Kos, the first school appears at the end of the 18th century. The efforts for education were made with the initiative of the Church and the contribution of middle-class citizens.

With the passing of time, the number of educational institutes in the island was increased, but only for the Primary cycle; no High School or Lyceum operated, contrary to what happened in the other islands (Rhodes, Kalymnos). In such circumstances, those who graduated from Primary school and wanted to continue with their studies had to go to nearby islands.

The level of studies in the educational institutes of Kos followed the regulations of the Patriarchate and the Greek educational system. The people of Kos despite the financial difficulties wanted to send their children to school, because they appreciated the value of education, but also since they felt it a patriotic duty. As a result, all scientists (teachers, doctors, lawyers, chemists) were Greeks in Kos of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The social stratification of the educated was clearly in favour of the middle-class, but there were also children of lower socio-economic classes who obtained a tertiary level degree.

Greek education and religion were the bonds of the Orthodox community, both differentiating its members from the ruling Ottomans. Children in schools were taught the Greek history and Letters; not only was this a window to the past, but most importantly it provided the particular identity which differentiated them from the rest and made them proud, because they felt as heirs of a great civilization and responsible to keep it up. School became the basic factor of irredentism for the Greeks.

Church, the middle-class and emigrants were the main sponsors of education. The age-old problem of education in the island was the financial one.

Gradually education became the catalyst of social change. The Ottomans, who tried with their various interventions to weaken the irredentism which was created with education and to promote the idea of Ottomanism, failed altogether.

The Italian occupation of the Dodecanese in 1912 created a new hope for the unification of the islands with Greece. From the first days, the Dodecanesians stated clearly that they would not tolerate the return of the Ottomans. They even organized armed parties of self-protection and they made it clear to Italians. Italy, however, quickly showed its intentions; it became the new conqueror, far from becoming a liberator. A new, more organized and harder occupation started then, which abolished all privileges, closed down Greek schools, persecuted Orthodoxy and imposed the Italian language. It was the beginning of another period of fights with secret schools and prosecutions.

Β) EDUCATION IN THE TIMES OF ITALIAN RULE

The following thesis is an attempt to approach and investigate the educational policy and its target of the Italian conquerors during the occupation of the island of Kos by them (1912-1943).

This occupation, according to researchers, is divided into 3 periods.

The first period was from 1912 to 1923 during which there were no significant alterations in the Greek educational system as the Italian –until the Lausanne treaty was signed- were temporary occupants and didn’t change the preferential status applying to the Greek Orthodox education during the Ottoman occupation.

The second period of the Italian occupation lasted from 1923 till 1936, just after the Lausanne treaty was signed and which declared the Dodecanese islands an Italian colony. This was when the first substantial interventions of the Italians in the Greek education began attempting to form a new functional education system.

Finally, the third period, 1936-1943, was the period of major educational degradation imposed by the conquerors.

Great effort was made in this thesis to show and analyze the interventions of the Italian conquerors in the administration and organization of the Greek Orthodox education. This attempt was based on researching Italian archive material as well as consulting a great amount of bibliography.

The highlighting years in this study are: a) 1916 when the Education Supervising Bureau was set up which aimed to continuously supervising education b) 1926 when the School Decree came into effect according to which the Greek Orthodox education was subject to government supervision, thus leaving the Greek Church with no administrative duties and finally 1936 when a new School Decree simulated Greek schools with Italian ones.

The analysis of the institutional framework leads us to the conclusion that the Italian tutors’ educational targets were exactly the same as the political targets of the Italians, differentiating only in the teaching methods used in each of these 3 periods.

Consequently, the complete supervision of the Greek Education, which was systematically sought after by the Italians, fulfilled their great expectation; the fundamental alteration of the Dodecanese from Greek to Italian, thus creating the conditions of the islands’ utter dehellenization.