Genesis The chief reason behind its creation was that in Poland and
Lithuania, the
Jesuits ran an extensive system of educational institutions. Although the Jesuit schools were fairly efficient and provided the Polish youth with a good education, they were also very
conservative. In addition, in 1773 the
Pope decided to close down the Jesuit order (
Dominus ac Redemptor). This threatened a complete breakdown of education in the Commonwealth. One of the first items on the parliamentary agenda of the
Partition Sejm (1773–1775), which acceded to the
First Partition of Poland, was the assessment in how to best use the former Jesuit property and declaration of a firm intention to the continuity of the education system. The commission was formally created on October 14, 1773. It was one of the newly set-up "Grand Commissions"; organisations with the status of a
ministry, albeit with a collegiate structure. Its main mastermind and chief figure was a Catholic priest,
Hugo Kołłątaj; other notable supporters included
Ignacy Potocki and
Adam K. Czartoryski. Initially, the governing body consisted of four senators and four members of the Sejm, half of them representing the eastern "counties"
voivodships of the Commonwealth (from the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania). The first head of the KEN was
Prince Bishop Michał Jerzy Poniatowski. Although the other members were mostly
magnate politicians, the main founders of the body were the prominent writers and scientists of the epoch:
Franciszek Bieliński,
Julian Ursyn Niemcewicz,
Feliks Oraczewski,
Andrzej Gawroński,
Dawid Pilchowski,
Hieronim Stroynowski and
Grzegorz Piramowicz. They were joined by
Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, the secretary of the
king of Poland (and father of the founder of the
DuPont company). Despite the fact that, initially, the KEN had to face a strong opposition in the
Sejm, it was supported by both the monarch and the
Familia party, which accorded it almost complete independence in management of its affairs.
Early (formative) period (1773–1780) In 1773 the KEN was granted much of the former property of the
Jesuit order, including all the schools, and many palaces and Church-owned villages. Due to this fact, the commission had not only benefited from the necessary infrastructure, but also had its own profit-yielding farms. The commission supervised two universities (
Jagiellonian University in
Kraków and
Vilnius University in
Vilnius), 74 secondary schools and about 1600 parish schools. The third university in the Commonwealth,
Lwów University, had been lost to the
Austrian Partition. Soon afterwards Hugo Kołłątaj prepared a three-level-based education plan: • Parochial schools – for peasants and burghers; •
Powiat schools – mostly for children of the
szlachta (nobility); however, children of lower classes were also admitted; • Universities –
Academy of Warsaw,
Academy of Vilnius and
Academy of Kraków Since all prior education in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was conducted mostly in
Latin, the KEN faced the problem of an almost complete lack of books and manuals. To cope with the problem the
Society of Elementary Books (
Towarzystwo Ksiąg Elementarnych) was, therefore, established. The society sponsored competitions for creating the best textbooks. The scientists—working on the new
Polish language textbooks—had, at times, to come up with the necessary vocabulary entries. Much of the vocabulary they invented (in relation to chemistry, physics, mathematics or grammar) is still in use up to this day. The commission also devised several documents, outlining the whole educational process. However, several of the new principles were considered too novel for that age, and were often ignored. These included, inter alia, the principle of 'equality of both sexes' in education. In 1780, the Opposition refused to sign the Statute on Elementary Schools (which was drafted by Kołłątaj). In 1774 the commission took over the
Załuski Library. File:1782 Algiebra dla szkół narodowych.png|
Algebra for national schools, (1782). File:1785 Elementarz dla szkół parafialnych.png|
Elementary book, (1785). File:1785 Botanika dla szkół narodowych.png|
Krzysztof Kluk,
Botanics for national schools, (1785). File:1792 Fizyka dla szkół narodowych.png|
Michał Jan Hube,
Physics for national schools (1792). File:1785 Uklad Grammatyki dla szkół narodowych.png|
Onufry Kopczyński,
The layout of Grammatics for national schools, (1785). File:1783 Grammatyka dla szkół narodowych.png|
Grammatics for national schools, (1783). File:1788 Wstęp do fizyki dla szkół narodowych.png|
Introduction to physics for national schools, (1788).
Second phase (1781–1788) After the formative period, during which the prerogatives of the commission were established, the KEN started to convert schools to the new model. The three universities in
Warsaw,
Vilnius and
Kraków were granted the right of curatorship over schools of lower degree. This included the schools which remained under the influence of the Roman Church. Gradually, the teachers, who were frequently former Jesuit priests, were exchanged for young lay teachers - graduates of the three academies. Thanks to this move, the opposition inside the local schools was finally broken.
Third phase (1788–1794) After 1789 the supporters of reforms in the Polish
Sejm gradually started to lose their influence. Similarly, the KEN was deprived of many of its former privileges. During the
Sejm Wielki the
Reformers had to sacrifice many of those privileges to gain support for the strongly reformist
Constitution of May the 3rd which aimed to strengthen the country against further partition in 1791. Ultimately, after the victory of the
Confederation of Targowica, in 1794, the KEN lost control over most of the schools in the Commonwealth and many of its members were banished or had to defect abroad. This included
Hugo Kołłątaj himself, who had to escape to
Dresden. The process of dissolving the Commonwealth was completed in 1795, with its territory being ceded to Russia, Prussia and Austria. ==Legacy==