The Belarusian Humanities Lyceum named after Yakub Kolas is a private secondary school, formerly located at 21 Kirau Street in
Minsk
Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative stat ...
,
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
.
History
It was founded in January 1990 in Minsk as a Sunday school. In September 1991, it became a permanent full-time lyceum under the Belarusian Humanitarian Education and Cultural Center.
Peculiarities
It had subsidiaries in other towns of Belarus. The duration of the study was 4 years (from grade 8 to grade 11).
Closure
Serious conflicts with the Belarusian authorities started in the mid 1990s after
Alexander Lukashenko
Alexander Grigoryevich Lukashenko (as transliterated from Russian language, Russian; also transliterated from Belarusian language, Belarusian as Alyaksand(a)r Ryhoravich Lukashenka;, ; rus, Александр Григорьевич Лука� ...
became the first president of the Republic of Belarus.
In June 2003, the Council of Ministers of Belarus ordered the Ministry of Education to close the lyceum down by adopting a relevant resolution. In the months that followed, students, parents and teachers fought to keep the school open, both diplomatically and through protest, but to no avail. The lyceum went underground shortly thereafter, becoming a private institution with its present name.
Since it went underground, the lyceum conducted separate training sessions in Poland (Warsaw, Gdansk, Zakopane, Shklyarsk-Poremba, Starachowice), Lithuania (Vilnius) and France (Arec-sur-Loire). In 2005-2015,
Andrzej Wajda
Andrzej Witold Wajda (; 6 March 1926 – 9 October 2016) was a Polish film and theatre director. Recipient of an Honorary Oscar, the Palme d'Or, as well as Honorary Golden Lion and Honorary Golden Bear Awards, he was a prominent member of th ...
,
Krzysztof Zanussi,
Lech Wałęsa
Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who served as the President of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 election, Wałęsa became the first democrat ...
,
Tadeusz Mazowiecki
Tadeusz Mazowiecki (; 18 April 1927 – 28 October 2013) was a Polish author, journalist, philanthropist and Christian-democratic politician, formerly one of the leaders of the Solidarity movement, and the first non-communist Polish prime mini ...
, Henryk Wuez,
, Andrzej Sewerin met with lyceum students and teachers during their studies abroad. In 2009,
Maria Kaczyńska, the First Lady of Poland at the time, met with lyceum students in the
Presidential Palace in Warsaw. In 2014,
Anna Komorowska, the subsequent First Lady of Poland, met with students and teachers of the lyceum. In Minsk, Vice Speaker of the European Parliament
Janusz Onyszkiewicz, Gdansk Mayor
Paweł Adamowicz
Paweł Bogdan Adamowicz (; 2 November 1965 – 14 January 2019) was a Polish politician and lawyer who served as the city mayor of Gdańsk from 1998 until his assassination in 2019.
Adamowicz was one of the organizers of the 1988 Polish strik ...
, Russian writer and human rights activist Alexei Simonow, as well as many other cultural and scientific figures from Belarus and abroad met with lyceum students.
In 2015, the lyceum marked its 25th anniversary. In 2004-2016 more than 200 students graduated from the lyceum.
Current situation
As of September 2016, there were 60 students and 14 teachers. The lyceum and two secondary schools in Gdansk, Poland, signed a cooperation agreement which allows lyceum students take courses in these schools, take exams and receive relevant certificates.
References in popular culture
The lyceum was featured in the 2006 documentary
A Lesson of Belarusian
''A Lesson of Belarusian'' ( pl, Lekcja białoruskiego) is a 2006 documentary by Polish director Mirosław Dembiński. It follows the activities of several Belarusian pro-democracy youth activists in the four weeks running up to the highly controv ...
. The documentary's central character,
Franak Viačorka
Francišak Valancinavič (Franak) Viačorka (Viacorka) ( be, Франці́шак Валянці́навіч Вячо́рка, russian: Франтишек Валентинович Вечёрко, ''Frantishek Valentinovich Vechyorko'', born 26 Ma ...
, is a former student of the lyceum and the son of its co-founder,
Vincuk Viačorka
Valiancin; russian: Винцук, translit=Vintsuk) is a diminutive form of Valancin. Ryhoravič Viačorka ( be, Валянцін Рыгоравіч Вячорка, , russian: Валентин Григорьевич Вечёрко, translit=Va ...
. Uladzimir Kolas, the school principal, is also featured in the documentary.
References
School of 'Partisans' Goes Underground in Belarus Peter Finn. 17 October 2004, Washington Post
The slow, torturous turning of the screw Faisal al Yafai. 19 August 2005, Times Higher Education
External links
14th anniversary of Yakub Kolas National Humanities Lyceum“Partisan” Lyceum celebrates 20th anniversary
{{coord missing, Belarus
Schools in Belarus