Η Ζίτσα του 19ου αιώνα
Authors: Κοσμάς Θεόδωρος 
Published: August 2021

The subject of our PhD is the examination of educational phenomenon at Zitsa, a small town on the N.W. of Ioannina, during the last period of the Ottoman Domination, in particular from 1778 until 1913. The dissertation is focused on close attendance of educational process from the first «koinon» school’s establishment up to Epirus’ liberation from the Ottoman domination We tried to focus on both the presupposition of the educational process and the examination of the major educational indicators, in order to indicate the duration, the tension and the importance of the educational function at Zitsa and the surrounding area. We tried to approach our subject according to the archive sources that we located, exploiting the existing literature and the daily and weekly press. Our study consists of Introduction, 8 main chapters and Epilogue. In the Introduction, we offer a brief overlook on the educational process in Epirus, we examine the general terms in which it occurs, and we point out at the major importance of the economic factor in the support of the educational activity. In the first chapter, the presuppositions that formed the educational process of Zitsa and were crucial for its image. More specifically, the origins of the educational process at Zitsa are examined, in which we indicate the long educational tradition of the town and the important role of the monasteries, mainly Prophet Elias Monastery and Pateron Monastery, as cultural centers. We trace the ideological and cultural presuppositions of the educational process, which find their origins in the messages of Modem Greek Enlightenment and have as important issue the function of the economic factor. The basic sources of financing, the monastic incomes and the donations of the benefactors have been the subject of a systematic approach in the second chapter. After the examination of specific related issues, the duration and the continuation in the educational supplies are underlined, and their crucial contribution to the development and preservation of an important educational infrastructure. In the third chapter, we deal with the evolutionary development process of the school network. The gradual elevation of the educational schedule is stressed, from «Koinon» School towards the rise to a higher level and expansion of educational attempts, which obtains full characteristics with the turn towards the education of the female children, too (Helliniki Scholi, school for girls). In the fourth chapter, a detailed presentation of the educational staff profile is provided. In close connection to this examination, we concentrated biographical notes of 74 male teachers and 20 female teachers, which worked at Zitsa, and whose whole function as teachers is searched. We tried to draw conclusions on issues of pay, quality of educational staff and annual expenses on education, in comparison to communities of Ioannina Prefecture, and in greater detail to the most representative part of Zagori. A positive evaluation of the educational presence at Zitsa is drawn as a conclusion. In the fifth chapter, we focus on the student factor, examining both the student presence at male children schools (Arrenagogeia) and the tendencies which lead the studies to higher degrees and some students from Zitsa to responding study degrees in the city of Ioannina, according to the Zosimaia School Archive. The efficiency of the school function at Zitsa is connected to the study progress of pupils from Zitsa at higher levels (Gymnasion or University). As far as Philiteion school for girls is concerned, our examination extends from an attendance of the numerical factors to a more specific focus on the proficiency of the female pupils. The limited role which the social structure had kept for females (housewife and mother), in which the only appreciated job opportunity was that of a teacher, adequately explains the limited motivation for the possession of higher education. The specific social and educational function of scholarships, which should be regarded as a basic agent of educational elevation, especially for the poor pupils, is analyzed in the sixth chapter. The wide granting of scholarships greatly contributed to the integration of the educational procedure and to the reproduction of the local scientific personnel. In the seventh chapter a special reference is made to the school libraries and their importance in the reinforcement and strengthening of the educational result. Their constitutional elements are described and important pieces of information about their content, their quality and their little remaining documents of the late period in modem libraries are given. Simultaneously, the existence of private libraries, the tracing of cultural tendencies in the local society and the circulation of newspapers and magazines should be regarded as witnesses of a general cultural atmosphere, which cultivates reading and covers many interests. The whole picture is completed by the presentation of the remaining elements of the monastic and church libraries. A catalogue of the prints is given in the Appendix. In the eighth chapter, an attempt is being made so that various dimensions of the educational contribution of Zitsa are explored, which surpasses the narrow framework of the local society. At last, the Epilogue consists of a brief recapitulation of the whole procedure that education at Zitsa followed and of the agents which formed it.