History of the August Witkowski Complex of Schools of Road Building, Surveying and General Education in Jarosław

The Complex of Schools of Road Building, Surveying and General Education is located in the building at ul. Świętego Ducha 1, in Jarosław, which was taken over from the pre-war August Witkowski Junior Secondary School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. The beginnings of the school reach back to the years 1940/1941 when the first class of the two-year Secondary School of Road Building and Hydrologic Engineering was established by the State School of Construction (ul. Poniatowskiego 13). Several years later, in place of those two-year vocational schools, three-year junior secondary schools and three-year vocational secondary schools were created. In September, 1951 a secondary school was separated from the State School of Construction and as an independent four-year Road Building Technical School with a Hydrologic Engineering Department was taken into management by the Ministry of Road Transport and Aircraft Industry. New school was assigned with a separate seat – the building of the pre-war Junior Secondary School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences burned down by the Germans in the last year of the war.

In the first year of the independent existence of the school, education was provided in very harsh condition. The whole ground floor of the building was temporarily commissioned for use by the Basic Vocational School. Construction of the wing of the Secondary Technical School of Road Building was completed in the 1951/1952 school year. The functioning of the school was pretty complex, as 7 road building specialty classes and one hydrologic engineering specialty class were created in that school year. However, already in the next year, the technical secondary school was completely communication-oriented and specialized in road building and road bridges construction.

In 1952, the patronage over the school was taken up by the Province Public Roads Authority in Rzeszow under the responsibility of Assistant Director, J. Piwoński, Eng. During that time, the basements of the schools were changed into workshop rooms. Until 1956, the school educated only classes of the four-year technical secondary school type.

In the school year of 1956/1957 vocational education was reorganized again. In place of previous four-year technical secondary school a five-year technical school was introduced subordinate to the Ministry of Education. Among the successes of the teachers working at that school is the handbook “Budowa mostów” (Bridge Construction) written by Julian Sołanowski, Eng., and Fryderyk Linder, Eng., and published by Wydawnictwo Komunikacji. The book was used by many students for many years after.

In the following years, the main attention was put to organizing the laboratories and subject-oriented classrooms. In the years 1962/1963 the road building materials room, the surveying room and the chemistry/physics laboratory were furnished with necessary equipment. From 2nd May 1966 for the purpose of expanding the assortment of equipment owned by the school and improvement of working conditions for the young people, the construction of the 3rd floor commenced along with general repairs of the entire electric, piping and sewerage system and central heating installation. In the years 1967/1968 the school used 7 classrooms and a common room provided for students to study there in the morning hours. The laboratories were organized and equipped with proper teaching aids: materials used in road building, surveying, physics and construction of bridges.

In the years 1965-1967, the third floor was commissioned, the school sports field was modernized (covered with asphalt), three classrooms and two laboratories were separated from the third floor and the school cafeteria was remodelled and repaired. Additionally, the sewerage pipes in the hall were concealed with boarding and the rooms for woodwork workshops were prepared.

In the school year of 1972/1973 by the decision of the School District Authority in Rzeszow, the Technical Secondary School of Road Building was joined with the Technical Secondary School of Surveying. One year later, a Post-secondary Vocational School with surveying specialty for secondary school graduates was established by Technical Secondary School of Road Building and Surveying. That school was functioned until 1978.

The beginnings of the Technical Secondary School of Surveying reach the year 1945 when the already existing State School of Construction was expanded with two new departments: surveying and chemistry department. A two-year secondary school and a three-year Junior Secondary School of Surveying were created and the initiators and organizers of those schools were: M.Sc. Józef Barański, M.Sc. Emil Pretorius and M.Sc. Franciszek Łuksza, the organizer of surveying personnel for the Rzeszowskie Province at that time. Education was conducted in a rented room in the building of the Junior Secondary School at ul. 3 Maja 8. On 1st September 1950, the Secondary School of Surveying received a separate, multi-storey building at ul. 3 Maja, previously occupied by the Female Junior Secondary School, which moved to the building of the Male Junior Secondary School at ul. 3 Maja 8 where the Coeducational Junior Secondary School was established.

In the school year of 1950/1951, the school educated students in the following specialties:

– four-year Technical Secondary School of Surveying

– four-year Secondary School of Surveying

– two-year Secondary School of Surveying

In the school year of 1951/1952 young people were admitted to grade one of the two-year technical secondary school if they were secondary schools graduates and to four-year technical secondary school if they were primary school graduates.

In the years 1956/1957 the four-year technical secondary school was turned into a five-year technical secondary school of surveying subordinate to the Ministry of Education. Apart from the five-year technical secondary school, for a couple of years, there existed a two-year State Technical School. Continuation of that school was a two-year Post-secondary Vocational School created within the Technical Secondary School of Road Building and Surveying.

Joining the two schools resulted in worsening of the venue conditions, the education was continued in the two-shift system. However, the joining had also positive consequences. New teachers of vocational subjects were hired for two specialties, the teachers’ offices and laboratories were shared and the school’s assortment of equipment and teaching aids was expanded in the area of vocational subjects. Due to the joining of the schools, the following laboratories were created: room 42 – management and agricultural land surveying, room 43 – geodesy and engineering surveying, ground floor – surveying equipment storage room.

The school continued to grow and create new specialties. In the school year 1978/1979, the new specialty of Roads and Railroad Bridge Building was created (there were no admissions for year 1 in that specialty for the 1995/1996 school year) followed by Land Reclamation in the years 1988/1991 and Hydrology in the year 1991/1992.

An important moment of the 1991/1992 school year was creation of the secondary school of general education. It took place pursuant to the motion of the Headmaster at the time, Janusz Kiczek. For the next couple of years, the number of students educated in that specialty was increasing continuously.

On 1st September, 1990, the school changed its name to the Complex of Schools of Road Building, Surveying and Land Reclamation in Jarosław.

In the school year of 1995/96, a new specialty was introduced: environment engineering and land reclamation which resulted in another change of the name of the school to Complex of Schools of Road Building, Surveying, General Education and Environmental Engineering.

Since 2004, the school has had the name August Witkowski Complex of Schools of Road Building, Surveying and General Education.

During the whole period of its existence, the school has been conducting an economic program of major and current repairs.

Since its creation, the school has organized vocational training for its students. From 1953, young people from year 3 were sent to vocational training in production and those from year 4 to diploma-oriented vocational training. All students of the school participated in practical surveying activities which took place within the area of Jarosław (surveying specialty classes , year 3 of road building and year 3 of railroad industry specialty) as well as vocational training in companies located in southern Poland. The requirements for the Final Secondary School A-level Exams (Matura) also changed. From the beginning of the 70’s, the students had to sit exams in vocational subjects and then the regulations changed. Only having passed vocational skills exam were they allowed to sit the Final Secondary School Exam. In the years 1993-2005, the vocational skills exam was conducted in the form of a defence of a diploma project.

In 2002, the reform of education was introduced in the technical secondary school by creating a four-year education cycle and shortening the education cycle of the secondary school to 3 years.

Presently, at the Complex of Schools of Road Building, Surveying and General Education the students are educated in the following specialties:

  • secondary school

– Computer Science and Mathematics, with increased number of hours for English language,
– Foreign Languages, with English being the main language taught,
– Social Sciences – for people interested in extending their knowledge of History and Geography,
– Mathematics and Physics – preparing for higher education courses at universities of technology,
– Biology Science

  • technical secondary school

– Road Building Technician,
– Surveying Technician.


Contact details

School Secretary’s Office

Open Monday to Friday 
from 7.30 a.m. to 3.30 p.m
tel./fax. 0048 16 621 32 82
0048 16 621 64 98
e-mail: sekretariat@tdgjar.edu.pl


Address

ul. Świętego Ducha 1
PL 37-500 JAROSŁAW
woj. Podkarpackie

Translation: Renata Tomaka – Pasternak