Michal Tarek Elementary School Abraham

History of the school

The teacher for schools in Majcichov and Abraham was Jozsef Zacsko (hereinafter Jozef Žačko), born 1917, a native of Moravia. He was fluent in both Hungarian and German and also taught handicrafts. The school had 6 grades, which were divided into 8 groups. 30 boys and 22 girls went to school. People only went to school in the winter months. From spring to autumn, the children had to help their parents work in the fields or on the farm. Younger children grazed geese, cows, goats or cared for younger siblings. Even now, the oldest citizens are used to saying that 6 winters went to school.

Teacher Žačko was also an organist and also the chief notary. He also had two assistant teachers to handle the challenge at both schools. The document in the box, which language the children speak, states that Slovak. This means that the common people, even in the monarchy, maintained their mother tongue very tenaciously even during the harsh Hungarianization.

The document from the canonical visitation also contains the calculation of the remuneration of teachers, which consisted of money and material benefits - in kind. Jozef Žačko is the first known teacher in Abraham, who settled permanently in Abraham after the arrival of his brother Michal Žaček in Majcichov (1856-1870). We have an official written mention of him that in the repeated elections in 1882 he was elected Abraham district to the Municipal Committee of the Bratislava County, the record says: Jozef Žačko does not come from Abraham (home law), but lives there for a long time, he has 13 acres of land there. , lives at the upper end of the village and has no debts. He is a teacher in Abraham.

On his initiative as a teacher in Abraham and a member of the Municipal Committee, the school, which was in the building of the current Municipal Office, was expanded in Abraham. The minutes from the Municipal Committee no. 369 / 215-216 on pages 74-75, where the Municipal Committee approves the request of the Municipal Council in Abraham for financial support for the expansion of the primary school and the appointment of another assistant teacher. The free translation from Hungarian reads: From the Abrahamic school with one-class teaching came a request to expand the school. MEP Abbeli decided to use the 335 forints saved as a basis for building the school, and the revenue from the fields and roles would be used to maintain the school and the teacher's annual salary. The application of the Municipal Crayfish was approved and returned to the municipality. It follows from the above that the first known teacher in Abraham, Jozef Žačko, is also responsible for the purchase of land on the site of the current Municipal Office, where the reconstruction of the original building and the extension of the second class was carried out. The addition of another class created the conditions for the approved position of assistant teacher, which became A. Lendel. In the area of education development in our village, teacher Jozef Žačko has done incomparably more than he has received respect and gratitude from the inhabitants and the village so far. In the 19th century, he was a pioneer in the field of education among the inhabitants of our village. Almost no one could read and write at that time.

On the documents from this period that we have at our disposal, the entire municipal council, including the mayor, was signed with a cross. This made his work as a teacher more difficult, because even his parents could not help the children with their learning and the whole burden lay only on him.

Jozef Žačko most probably taught until about 1890 - 1892, because it is written on the monument that he taught for 53 years. He died in 1902 and is buried with his wife Františka (Fani) family. Happy in the cemetery in Abraham. At least what our generation does to him to preserve his memory and as an expression of gratitude can give him is the care of his grave with a still standing tombstone.

In 1895, an ordinance was issued, according to which all Slovak schools had to learn Hungarian. Our children did not understand this language and half of the pupils left the school of the illiterate after six years of compulsory schooling. The school was run by the church, but the state already had oversight of the school. All school affairs were administered by the school chair, whose members were elected from esteemed citizens. At the head of the school chair was the administrator of the rectory. The school chair took care of the maintenance of the school building, the teachers' apartment, selected the school and teachers' administration by bankruptcy, set the teachers' salary and supervised that the residents handed over a salary in kind to teachers such as grain, wood and similar self-produced products.

At the end of the 19th century, František Holásek became the school's administrator. In 1910, the school was expanded to 3 classes. It was located at the current Municipal Office. Other teachers were Anton Belan and Ľudovít Gálfy. In 1918, a new school was built on the site of the current school, which has been attended by 6 years. It was a building with 2 classrooms and an apartment for the school administrator. The citizens of the village built it on their own. The other 2 classes were in the building of the current Food Horník and one class in the current building of the Municipal Office. After the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic, the school began to learn only Slovak.

František Holásek ended his teaching career as a school administrator in 1929, when he retired and moved to Nové Zámky, where he also died and is buried. He had 9 children, of whom his daughter Júlia married the local butcher Michal Banáš. In the 1920s, teacher Janeček also taught at the school. And in 1928 - 1929 also Ján Pullman. Teacher Ľudevít Gálfy taught in Abraham until 1926, when he left for the neighboring village of Hoste, where he became the school administrator. Teacher Anton Belan was replaced in 1922 by teacher Emília Riegelová, a native of Abraham. This teacher devoted her entire active life to social activities. She worked in various associations as the then Credit Cooperative, where she held the position of accountant for years, later in the State Savings Bank. She was a recorder at the School Chair, a chronicler of the municipality, chairwoman of the Supervisory Committee of Jednota, she led folklore and interest groups and was involved in many other activities beneficial to the municipality. In 1926, Mária Porubčanová entered the school to teach, but in 1929, on September 1, she left to teach in Šintava. On December 27, 1928, teacher Ján Pullman left to teach in Hrončiarovce, and Alojz Poppy, born in Rarkok near Malacky and a former teacher and organist in Horná Streda near Piešťany, was approved by the School Chair on July 7, 1929 to replace him with 4 concurrences. In 1929, a new pastor Dr. also came to the village. Michal Tarek, at that time already a very well-known personality and a new notary Michal Šimko.

In these years, after the establishment of the Czechoslovak Republic, the national consciousness of citizens, the effort to educate and improve the teaching of the young generation of Abrahamans is growing. Families are willing to publish even the last ones, just so that their children can study. In the village, they see that the former school is no longer sufficient space or material equipment or the number of teachers. The trio of representatives of the village Dr. Tarek, Poppy and Šimko quickly understand the situation and the desire of citizens for education and led by Dr. Tarekom will immediately start building a new modern school with zeal. At the same time, they find the trust and support of the members of the school chair, which also represented the church committee in the village. Their members also formed a strong group in the municipal council of Abraham. The administrator of the rectory Dr. Tarek becomes the chairman of the school chair and Emília Riegelová becomes the recorder. The school chair at the first meeting under the leadership of Dr. Tareka made a direct decision on the construction of a new school on May 5, 1929.