XI Gymnasium explained

XI Grammar School
Native Name:	XI. gimnazija
Motto:	Dobra lokacija, još bolja edukacija.
Motto Translation:	Good location, even better education.
Location:	77 Savska street 9 10000 Zagreb Croatia
Schooltype:	All-purpose grammar school
Founder:	Stjepan Radić
Headmaster:	Maja Sečić-Kopinč
Grades:	4 (9 to 12)
Pupils:	465
Classes:	16

The Eleventh Gymnasium (Croatian: Jedanaesta gimnazija) is a public secondary school in Zagreb, Croatia, established in 1926. The school, as of 2021, has 465 students enrolled, and 16 classes.^[1] The principal is Maja Sečić-Kopinč.

The school shares a building with the teaching faculty of Zagreb University.

History

The establishment of the school was approved in 1926, the first principal being Branko Škare.^[2] The building which the school currently is located inside was constructed in 1937, by the Catholic women's order Sisters of Charity (Croatian: Sestre Milosrdnice). The order founded an all-purpose same-sex gymnasium for girls. Alozije Stepinac personally blessed the opening of the new building.

During World War II, it temporarily served as a hospital for the wounded, housing up to 300 soldiers and civilians. After the war, however, the name of General Women's Gymnasium was abolished, and became known as the Eleventh Gymnasium.^[3] It adopted to a co-educational system and secular curriculum from that point on. In 1962, the school moved to Doboj street in the neighbourhood of Trešnjevka.

In 1977, following the educational reforms by Stipe Šuvar, the school merged with the Fifth and Seventh Gymnasiums and changed its name to the Bogdan Ogrizović Education Centre (Croatian: Pedagoško-obrazovni centar „Bogdan Ogrizović“). Šuvar was a prominent Croatian politician and sociologist and member of the communist party who greatly influenced the education system of 1970s Yugoslavia.^[4]

In 1991, the newly fledged nation of Croatia renamed it to the Eleventh (although better known in its roman numeral form, XI) Gymnasium.

The school's buildings were heavily damaged in the 2020 Zagreb earthquake.^[5]

Notes and References

1. Web site: About out school: Eleventh Gymnasium of Zagreb . XI. gymnasium Zagreb . 2 September 2021.
2. Web site: Archive record of decision to split up the education centre and create three new gymnasiums up the . Official Herald . 2 September 2021.
3. Web site: Get to know: The Eleventh Gymnasium . High school portal of Croatia . News portal for high school students . 2 September 2021.
4. Web site: Perišić . Helena . Vocation-oriented education reform in Croatia in the 1970s . CORE UK . University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social . 2 September 2021 . 3.
5. Web site: Kršul . Dora . In this building, the primary and secondary school were heavily damaged by the earthquake. Telegram - the portal for social and cultural questions . Telegram Croatia . 2 September 2021 . 4.