... in an ordinary school, in an ordinary village – this is how one might sum up the ceremony held last Friday in Ocice, in Bolesławiec Municipality. What extraordinary thing can be found in the pleasant, but not exceptional, fact that another construction project has been completed?
And yet, neither the hall nor the school is ordinary. The village, too, is of interest, because it manages to solve more problems here than elsewhere. And Bolesławiec Municipality – as the education superintendent present at the ceremony pointed out – has for several years been energetically developing its educational infrastructure. Only a few months ago, the school in Trzebień was reopened after a comprehensive reconstruction, while at the ceremony in Ocice, the advanced stage of construction of a gymnasium at the school in Kraśnik Dolny was discussed.
Anyone who wished to believe that the hall in Ocice was a cost-cutting solution for difficult times would be mistaken. It was indeed built economically, but it is full-sized (288 sq m), has not only basic facilities but also a gym, as well as a kitchen so that it can be used for village meetings. For this reason, it has two independent entrances and a storage area for floor covering that can be used to elegantly cover the entire parquet floor.
“An idealistic vision of the Polish school,” said the head of the institution, Cezariusz Rudyk, “known from public discussions, is being put into practice here. The hall, and earlier the new wing (the school doubled the number of its rooms several years ago), was created through the harmonious cooperation of the Parents’, Village Council and parish councils. We do not say that we are a ‘school seeking’ – we are one, as evidenced by the fact that last year, competing with 3,000 others, we received an award for a new formula for winter holidays for rural children.”
The teachers here undertake all kinds of experiments, including participation in the work of the Association of Creative Teachers, a Saturday German-language course at the school, reaching the victorious final of the provincial history competition, organising the Ocice Poetry Festival, an extraordinary “night-time” St Nicholas event for the youngest children, and more.
“We have built and will continue to build school facilities,” said municipal head Kazimierz Gawron, “taking care of the development of schools and education, as well as children’s physical fitness, because a rural child should go on to secondary school not only with their head held high, but also with a straight spine.”
We allocated almost 20 per cent of the municipality’s annual budget to education, even though until now it had not formally been “ours”.
Both Sejm member Jerzy Szmajdziński, who was present in Ocice, and voivode Janusz Pezda stressed that their visit to the well-managed municipality was not a matter of chance, but reflected the community’s high social standing and dynamism. The relaxed parliamentarian remarked half-jokingly that this had allowed him to take a break from discussions about who should go on holiday and who should remain at work despite not wanting to. He added, quite seriously, that changes to the state budget would mean that around 300 similar halls would be built in Poland this year, but Bolesławiec already had one, built through its own efforts, which was particularly valuable.