(CZ) K počátkům obnovy a přestavby československého školství (k 100. výročí narození Zdeňka Nejedlého)
(EN) The Beginnings of the Rehabilitation and Reform of the Czechoslovak System of Education

The author deals with, and appraises, the share of Z. Nejedlý in the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the Czechoslovak education system during his first term of office as Minister of Education after World War II. He does so not only on the basis of literature and pedagogical journals, but also makes use of shorthand records of Nejedlý’s speeches addressed to teachers, students and the youth, as well as hitherto unknown handwritten materials which date as far back as the days of the first Czechoslovak government on the liberated territory in Košice, Eastern Slovakia. On the basis of these sources the author shows that Nejedlý took up his office of Minister immediately after his appointment and formulated the first directives for the National Committees and Education Authorities. These directives then became the basis for the first official ministerial decrees. On the basis of numerous handwritten torsos and notes the author points out that Nejedlý dedicated himself fully to running his department and participated in preparing official measures. At the same time he influenced public opinion by his speeches dealing with topical problems and developing his conception of school reform on the basis of an all-in school and a uniform education system. In doing so he proceeded from the new situation which arose after the defeat of fascism and which provided the reason for some ideological revision of the national cultural programme. He saw the essence of this revision in strengthening the Slavonic orientation of the cultural and educational policy, in a new attitude of the intelligentsia to Marxism-Leninism, in a return to the roots of the national culture and its great creators, in bringing culture and the educational system closer to the people. From this point of view Nejedlý influenced the preparation of the new Education Bill, which he had submitted to the Government before the election for the National Assembly took place in 1946.