The best in knowledge history

Ewelina Kołoszewska from Vilniaus Jeruzalės vidurynė mokykla [Secondary School in Jeruzalės], Agata Gornatkiewicz from Vilniaus Jono Paulinas II gimnazija [John Paul II Secondary School] and Dorota Kalaszewska from Mickūnų vidurinė mokykla [Secondary School in Mickūnai] – are the winners of the X-th Historical Contest for Polish schools in Lithuania “Do I know the history of Poland?”, which took place in the House of Polish Culture in Vilnius. The Society of Polish School Teachers in Lithuania “Macierz Szkolna” was the organizer of the contest for school grade 9 to 11.

The competitors were sitting a 44 questions test.  It was the test about history of Poland, from the ancient to contemporary times, with particular attention paid to January Uprising subject (because of the anniversary of it celebrated in Poland, as well as in Lithuania as the January Uprising Year).

The president of the Society of Polish School Teachers in Lithuania “Macierz Szkolna” and a member of the competition jury Józef Kwiatkowski said – “Taking into account that there is no continuous programme of Polish history courses in syllabus at Polish schools in Lithuania, and the pupils can learn about it only from fragmented and separated pieces of a common history of Lithuania an Poland, we can judge the competitors knowledge to be very high”. The president Kwiatkowski added – “We shall regret strongly, that there is no obligatory, continuous program of teaching Polish history in Polish schools syllabus”.

The Polish schools’ students can learn Polish history in the optional classes… if such classes are provided by the school. It is well known, that not all the schools can offer their pupils this option, the students – on the other hand – not always take the opportunity up.

The most teachers can do is to set aside one or half an hour a week – as a part of 7 hours given for free use in the lesson’s timetable  – for teaching  the Polish history. Only few schools  are doing so.

“Therefore, we started the historical knowledge competition, to attract students to learning Polish history, to make it popular at schools” – says Józef Kwiatkowski.

57 persons took part in present year edition of the competition (there were 60 applications submitted). This is more than in the previous years, that means that such competitions are popular and needed” – admitted Krystyna Dzierżyńska, vice-president of Society of Polish School Teachers in Lithuania “Macierz Szkolna”.

“It is worth to say that it is becoming popular not only with the history teachers, but with the headmasters and the parents of the schools encouraging their pupils to learning Polish history.  And one can see the results straight away.” For example Secondary School in Dūkštu (Vilnius Region) stands out in such competitions, a student from the school is one of the winners of the competition concerning knowledge about John Paul II, another student took place among the first ten winners of the present competition” – emphasized Józef Kwiatkowski.

He is very happy noticing total commitment and country school pupils knowledge level scoring (even though they are so young very often) – added the president.  7 out of 10 the best participants of this year competition are the students from Vilnius and Ŝalĉininkai Region schools.

There were 10 participants of this year competition who were awarded and honored, they scored the best. The winners will get – as a part of a prize – an invitation to summer camp organized by Society of Polish School Teachers in Lithuania “Macierz Szkolna”

Below you can find a list of 10 winners, who scored the best. There were maximum 45 points to get.

1. Ewelina Kołoszewska, Vilniaus Jeruzalės vidurynė mokykla [Jeruzalės Secondary School in Vilnius (38.5 points)
2. Agata Gornatkiewicz, Vilniaus Jono Paulinas II gimnazija [John Paul II Secondary School) (38 points)
3. Dorota Kalaszewska, Mickūnų vidurinė mokykla [Secondary School in Mickūnai] (Vilnius Region) (37 points)
4. Agata Sadowska, Saint Stanislaus Kostka Secondary School in Paberžė (Vilnius Region) (37 points)
5. Krzysztof Szejbak, Vilniaus Simonas Konarskis vidurinė mokykla [Simonas Konarskis Secondary School] (35 points)
6. Agata Irena Jasińska, Elementary School in Dukŝtu (Vilnius Region) (35 points)
7. Rajmond Maldis, Stanislovas Moniuŝka gimnazija [Stanislovas Moniuŝka Secondary School] (Ŝalĉininkai Region) (35 points)
8. Dariusz Cilindz, Ejŝiŝkės gimnazija [Ejŝiŝkės Secondary School] (Ŝalĉininkai Region)(34.5 points)
9. Ewelina Borkowska, Secondary School in Jaŝiūnai (Ŝalĉininkai Region)(34.5 points)
10. Daniel Rogoża, Ejŝiŝkės gimnazija [Ejŝiŝkės Secondary School] (Ŝalĉininkai Region) (34 points)

The following people were serving on a jury: Roman Lachowicz, retired history teacher, Wacława Szuksztul, history teacher from Mickūnų vidurinė mokykla [Secondary School in Mickūnai] (Vilnius Region), Józef Kwiatkowski, president of Society of Polish School Teachers in Lithuania  “Macierz Szkolna”.

Based on: Society of Polish School Teachers in Lithuania “Macierz Szkolna”, in-house info

Source: http://www.wilnoteka.lt/pl/artykul/najlepsi-z-wiedzy-historycznej

Tłumaczenie Jadwiga Granowska w ramach praktyk w Europejskiej Fundacji Praw Człowieka, www.efhr.eu. Translated by Jadwiga Granowska within the framework of a traineeship programme of the European Foundation of Human Rights, www.efhr.eu.