The Nagy Mózes National College

Located in central Romania, on the western side of the Carpathian mountains in a municipality called Târgu Secuiesc (in local Hungarian language: Kézdivásárhely), “Nagy Mózes”, our "Gymnasium" was founded in 1680. The school accepts pupils from nursery school through the 12th grade. The faculty of 60 provides students the standard courses of high school and, in addition, students are given opportunities to receive emphasized instruction in the areas of drawing, chemistry, biology, mathematics, computer studies, foreign languages (English, German, French). The base language used in instruction is Hungarian, the mother-tongue of the students.

Brief History

Our school, the oldest secondary school in this county, was founded by the friar Nagy Mózes in his native village Estelnic (Esztelnek) in 1680. This village is about 15 km from Targu Secuiesc. Nagy Mózes was born in the middle of the 17th century, studied in Hungary and worked for 12 years in the surroundings of Kanizsa which was then under Turkish authority. In 1674 he came back to his native village where he had a lot to do. In the first and most important thing was to establish a school seeing the spiritual and educational backwardness of the people. Therefore Nagy Mózes asked the Pope Incze the 11th for help who liked the idea and gave him financial assistance. In his way Nagy Mózes, helped a long bye the Franciscan friar Guarini Bonaventura, managed to give teaching a start in 1680.

The geographical location of Esztelnek being unfavorable for the school to function it was moved to the village Kanta, near Kézdivásárhely in 1696. It could continue its activity in a new building build on the lot granted by Jankó Péter and Damokos Zsuzsánna. In 1699 the Earl Apor István supplemented the school with a new building and lot. In 1751 the inhabitants of the county Háromszék contributed to the building of a new, large and somewhat modern school.

After the revolution from 1848-49 had been defeated the modest gymnasium from Kanta could not comply with the requirements of the new school reform and had to stop functioning in 1850. It was in 1862 when the school reopened its doors again thanks for the help given by the inhabitants of this region. In 1899 the school was transformed into a General Secondary School due to the enthusiastic work of Hasák Vidor. The present school building was build in 1905/1906 and cost 311765 crowns. Education was organized in Latin according to the Ratio Studiorum till 1777. From this date on it became a secondary school according to the Ratio Educationis.

The school played a great part in the field of acting plays in Hungarian language. Between 1771-1779 the students help along by the Franciscan friars performed 22 plays, 16 of them being of them completely or partly in Hungarian. Fact that reveals the importance of this school in the intellectual life of this region and of Transylvania. Famous personalities like Hasák Vidor, Dr. Péter János, Biró Lajos, Dr. Csomor Lajos, Zsögön Zoltán, Szöcs Mihály, Pokorny László, Domokos Pál Péter, Cselény Béla, Dr Csapo József, Dr Várhelyi Gyula, Dr Boga Alajos, Földi István and others have contributed to the rising of education and intellectual life on a higher level by their self-sacrificing, conscious activity.

After the second World War important changes took place in the life of the school. In 1948 it was nationalized and stopped being a secondary school. The students who were to take their final examination had to go to Sepsiszengyörgy to the Székely Mikó College. The teachers and the other students continued their studies either at the Agricultural or the Pedagogical School.

Beginning with the school year 1954-55 the Pedagogical School was transformed into theoretical secondary school which in 1973 got back the building of the formal Catholic Secondary School in Kanta Street. The measures taken by the communist dictatorship are to be felt in the life of our school too. In 1977 the school was changed into an Industrial Secondary School and in 1983 it was separated from the middle school and had to train workers for the oil industry. In the same time a great harm was done to education in Hungarian language.

The year 1989 meant a turning point in the history of our school. In January 1990 the school regained the name of its founder Nagy Mózes and became a theoretical institution of education in Hungarian language. In September 1991 the middle school and Nagy Mózes Secondary School were reunited. Today this school has got 977 students including 2 nursery school groups, 4 classes in primary school, 12 classes in middle school, and 19 classes in secondary school. The school carries on a many-sided activity. Foreign languages are taught intensively beginning with the second form, in the fifth form we have special classes of drawing and sports and the 9th-12th form pupils study in special classes of mathematics-physics, chemistry-biology, informatics, foreign languages, catholic religion. The students learning in the special classes of drawing have made the name of this school known in several countries. Throughout three centuries and up to the present day the local population have contributed to the functioning of this school.

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