Since its closure in 1991 the building of the Povir branch elementary school which was once the heart of the village and the centre of learning for numerous residents of Povir and other nearby villages has been left in disrepair. The school, built in 1902, and the people connected with it managed to survive some of the most challenging years in human history; however, the school's building is nowadays in danger of beeing completely destroyed due to years of neglect. In the master's thesis we have focused on projection/vision of the local population and through means of surveying we have come up with the answers which enlighten the future of Povir's school – mainly focused on whether the villagers want the school to be rebuild and reopened for educational or other purposes or not. Moreover, our aims were also finding out how many students from Povir and nearby villages were attending classes 1 to 5 on central school in the school year of 2022/23, asking the students mentioned if they would be willing to attend the school in Povir in case of its reopening and also finding out if it would be helpful for the central elementary school to reopen its former branch elementary school in Povir, thus reducing its space limitations which have been plaguing it due to increase in number of students in recent years. Furthermore, we compared school system from the period of the Italian Kingdom to the independence of Slovenia with the help of oral testimonies and document analysis, thus finding out how values, beliefs and norms of individual period's society impacted the school system.
We introduced Povir in theoretical part, describing its location within Slovenian Coastal-Karst region and the main cultural sites in the village and its surroundings. Then we focused on the beginnings of the school in Povir and how the education system worked and evolved through periods of the Austrian Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Kingdom of Italy, the German occupation, the Anglo-American military administration and lastly in Yugoslavia after the breakup of which the school ceased to exist. Furthermore, we described what life outside the school was like for different generations of the Povir school students. With the help of the Povir school certificates from different periods, photographs, various material resources and oral testimonies of the Povir school former students we were able to reflect upon these matters. Moreover, we described the years that followed the closure of the Povir school until now. Lastly, we focused on the widespread closing of Slovenian branch elementary schools at the time of Yugoslavia and Slovenia and on the importance of preserving branch elementary schools in rural environment.
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