Vukovar Gymnasium () is a secondary school ( gymnasium) in

Vukovar Vukovar (; sr-Cyrl, Вуковар, , ) is a city in Croatia, in the eastern Regions of Croatia, regions of Syrmia and Slavonia. It contains Croatia's largest river port, located at the confluence of the Vuka (river), Vuka and the Danube. Vukova ...

in eastern

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

. Vukovar Gymnasium curriculum is divided into three specializations with the first one being general social science, the second one science and the third one languages. Classes are held separately in Croatian and

Serbian language Serbian (, ) is the standard language, standardized Variety (linguistics)#Standard varieties, variety of the Serbo-Croatian language mainly used by Serbs. It is the official and national language of Serbia, one of the three official languages of ...

, both of which are standardized varieties of

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...

. In the school year 2007/2008, 384 students were enrolled. Of these, there were 248 female and 136 male students.

History

The gymnasium was opened in 1891 at the ''Kod zvijezde'' facility. 44 male pupils enrolled at that time, and the first principal of the new school was Joseph Vitanović. In 1894 school moved to specifically constructed premises for it which costed 35,500

Forints The forint (, sign Ft; code HUF) is the currency of Hungary. It was formerly divided into 100 fillér, but fillér coins are no longer in circulation. The introduction of the forint on 1 August 1946 was a crucial step in the post-World War II sta ...

at that time. In 1895, female pupils were enrolled for the first time, and partial state funding began, culminating in full state funding in 1912, when the school was attended by 240 pupils.

Separate Croatian and Serbian classes controversy

Since the completion of the

United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium The United Nations Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) was a United Nations, UN peacebuilding Provisional government, transitional administration in Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmi ...

mandate, students studying in Croatian or in Serbian are taught in separate classrooms in separate groups. Some (notably, but not exclusively, right wing and nationalist Croat groups) have seen that practice as the implementation of segregation policies in education. This claim was strongly challenged by minority representatives themselves who underline that parents in Vukovar are free to choose in which language group to enroll their children. They insist that therefore one cannot talk about segregation from the point of view of

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

as defined in the Convention against Discrimination in Education. They point to the Article 2, paragraph B, explicitly stating that minority groups are entitled to conduct specific forms of education which shall not be perceived as segregation.

Alumni

After the school year 2023/24, 59 graduates of this gymnasium enrolled at an institution of higher learning in Croatia, or 81.94% of students who took up the nationwide

Matura or its translated terms (''mature'', ''matur'', , , , , ', ) is a Latin name for the secondary school exit exam or "maturity diploma" in various European countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech ...

exams. The most common destinations for these students were the

University of Osijek The Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek (, ), commonly known as the University of Osijek (UNIOS), is a public university based in Osijek, Croatia. Established in 1975, it is the flagship institution of higher education in Slavonia, and ...

faculties of medicine, law, electrical engineering, computing and IT, humanities and social sciences, as well as the

Lavoslav Ružička Polytechnic Vukovar College of Applied Sciences "Lavoslav Ružička" in Vukovar () is an education institution situated in Vukovar, Croatia. College of Applied Sciences "Lavoslav Ružička" in Vukovar carries the educational programs of Trade Study, Administrative ...

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Gymnasiums in Croatia Schools in Vukovar-Srijem County Bilingual schools Educational institutions established in 1891 School buildings completed in 1894 Vukovar Buildings and structures in Vukovar 1891 establishments in Austria-Hungary