The past and present of GJW

PRostějov was one of the three largest towns in Moravia on the threshold of the 1990s, and yet there was no grammar school. Its establishment has been underway since 1893. The Czech mayor Karel Vojáček and a member of the city council JUDr. However, Jindřich Stross did not receive a permit in his negotiations at the Vienna Ministry of Cult and Education and at the Moravian Governor in Brno. Only thanks to the merits of the employee of the mentioned ministry and professor of Charles University dr. Antonín Rezek succeeded in promoting the establishment of a Czech state grammar school in Prostějov in Vienna. His sculptural portrait, the work of sculptor Vojtěch Schaff, is placed in a place of honor in the auditorium of the school.The imperial decision of November 21, 1898 then allowed teaching to begin in the 1899/1900 school year. The financial security of the school fell on the shoulders of the town of Prostějov, and it was not until 1907 that the Vienna Ministry of Cult and Education decided to pay for heating, electricity and cleaning of the institute from the state treasury.The first two years after the opening of the institute, the school was temporarily located in the house of today’s social institutes on Brněnská třída No. 27 and 119 pupils were registered. Jan Wimmer was appointed the school’s first principal. In the second year, the construction of the building itself was already in full swing. On October 18, 1900, a tragic event occurred. The ledge collapsed and the accident claimed 7 victims from the ranks of construction workers.Today, the magnificent building of the grammar school in Kollárova Street was completed as early as 1901. All costs amounted to a total of 412,693 crowns in the then currency. The ceremony of consecration took place on September 15, 1901, and in front of the building, as part of the opening ceremony, MP Dr. Václav Perek, a well-known law enforcement activist, according to which every Czech child should go to a Czech school.On September 16, 1901, the building was filled with students and on November 17, the auditorium was opened, which was used as a chapel for school services. It was taught according to the valid curricula for the land languages ​​from 1900. In the first years, the secondary subjects were drawing, calligraphy, physical education and singing, later also shorthand and the French language. It is worth mentioning that until the school year 1913/1914, German was an optional subject. Written school-leaving examinations were held in Czech, mathematics, homeland studies and either Latin or Greek.The First World War adversely affected the running of the school and the life of the teaching staff and students. All activities were under the control of the Austrian military and political authorities. 

The creation of an independent Czechoslovak state was accepted with enthusiasm and hope. Pupils marched through the city, sang patriotic songs and removed Austrian state symbols. After the First World War, the number of students increased every year, in 1942 their number stabilized at 449; at that time, the grammar school was in second place among classical grammar schools in the republic. The curricula seldom changed and the number of hours of selected subjects was rarely adjusted. In 1930, the exams were modified by the introduction of one optional graduation course. The new school examination and classification regulations were issued by the Ministry in August 1936.The consequences of the Munich dictatorship also deeply affected the life of the school. The fate of the grammar school during the war was not very different from the fate of other Czech secondary schools. In January 1942, for example, a portrait of František Palacký had to be removed from the facade of the building, bilingual certificates were introduced and the institute was changed to a real grammar school by a ministerial decree. At the end of the war, the entire front of the school building was severely damaged by aerial bombardment. A memorial plaque, which is located in the school lobby, testifies to the victims of the Nazi occupation at the school. The author of the album is the sculptor Jan Tříska from Prostějov.After the war, teaching in the grammar school building was not resumed until December 10, 1945, even in emergency conditions. Completely normal teaching at the grammar school did not begin until the school year 1947/48. In 1949, the renovation of the auditorium was completed. It was merged with a former real girls’ grammar school. The school was given the honorary title of Jiří Wolker Grammar School.The year 1953 was a tragic year for many students and for the grammar school faculty. Class 3. A, which was to graduate that year, was identified as the spiritual initiator of the protest action against the removal of Masaryk’s statue in the square and was not admitted to graduation. The faculty was dissolved and deployed throughout all schools in the district. The grammar school curriculum reflected ideological tendencies, which were mainly marked by the curriculum of humanities.The school year 1952/53 was also the last year of the four-year grammar school. After the extensive reform of our education system in 1953, there were frequent and often ill-considered organizational changes. In 1955, the school hall was repaired according to the project of architect Miloš Libra. On the south side of the gym, a two-storey extension was built on the basis of a not very successful project.In the years 1970-72, an extensive, but not very successful, overhaul of the building was carried out. The 70s and 80s in our state were marked by the so-called normalization, which was reflected in the running of the school. Nevertheless, the grammar school maintained a high credit, which was reflected in particular in the steadily high proportion of students admitted to universities.The restoration of democratic conditions in 1989 brought significant changes not only in the management of the school, but later also in the concept of the curriculum and the overall concept of education at our school. Already in September 1990, two classes of the so-called multi-year grammar school were established, where pupils from the 5th year of primary school were admitted. From this year, four-year and seven-year studies (later eight-year studies) coexist.The external and internal appearance of the building also underwent changes. 

The building No. Mr. Kollárova 1 was set aside for the needs of the grammar school, which was connected to the original building in 1992  by a corridor on the level of the 1st floor. The new building housed cabinets, specialized computer classrooms, biology classrooms and language classes, and a student and teacher library. In the so-called extension, a dining room was set up in 1993 and in 1994, after the abolition of the original cloakrooms, a modern small gym.After an initial search for a new concept of study in both types of grammar school, it was decided that the basic general character of education will be maintained and students can profile themselves according to their individual interests in the last three years of study. Efforts to continuously modernize classrooms and cabinets continue in order to create the best conditions for the study of pupils and the work of grammar school teachers.We hope that in this way we will continue the good tradition of the school and we will be able to maintain the high professional level of our graduates.