Swiss School Luino
The Swiss School Luino ( Italian Scuola Svizzera Luino ) on Lake Langensee was founded in 1883, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 1983 and was closed in 1990. It was the third after the Swiss schools in Naples and Genoa to be set up by the Swiss for their children abroad . Its emergence is connected with the settlement of the textile industry in Luino by Swiss entrepreneurs, who created over 1000 jobs in a short time, as well as with the construction of the Gotthard Railway , the original main line of which was planned via Luino.
School history
founding
On September 11, 1883, the assembly of the Swiss colony decided to found the Scuola Svizzera di Luino . Most of the cadre employees of the textile industry, who were recruited from German-speaking Switzerland , the Gotthard Railway officials and the Federal Customs and Post officials were interested in providing their children with an education that would enable them to attend higher schools in German and later also in Italian Switzerland . The initial financing was made possible by contributions from representatives of the textile industry, after which the customs department and the Gotthard Railway also pledged their support.
The school operation
In the first school year, lessons were started in Italian with 17 students. In 1885 German and Italian were taught by an assistant teacher. With 74 children in 1907, the school had its largest number of pupils. During the First World War the number of students dropped to 7 children. The railway and customs operations had ceased, the two teachers returned to Switzerland and an Italian teacher kept the lessons going. During the Second World War the number of pupils fell to 14. In 1942 the Italian language was put on an equal footing with the German language. An Italian teacher taught in her mother tongue, the colleague from German-speaking Switzerland taught in German. In this way the principle of immersion teaching was practiced.
teacher and student
In the more than 100-year history of the school, a total of 34 main teachers were employed. The school was originally open to students whose parents were Swiss citizens. After the federal decree of 1946 came into force, which reorganized the support for schools abroad, the General Customs Directorate and the General Directorates of Post and SBB considered themselves relieved of their obligations towards the Swiss School Luino. Around 1950, 20-25 children attended school. Foreign students have now also been accepted.
School closes
With the decline of the textile industry, the German-speaking Swiss colony also shrank and, accordingly, the proportion of German-speaking Swiss students. The Steiner ribbon weaving mill closed its doors in 1968. The Hüssy weaving mill followed in 1972. The last one to cease operations in 1978 was the Hüssy spinning mill . With the elimination of the branch of industry that was central to the school and which had prompted the school to be founded, the question of its right to exist soon arose.
Italian becomes the language of instruction
In connection with the decline in German-speaking students, it was examined whether German should continue to be maintained as the main language of instruction. In 1973 the canton of Graubünden took over the patronage of the school, and it was decided to teach the German language as a foreign language. From this point on, bilingual teachers from the Italian-speaking part of the Canton of Graubünden gave the lessons.
The decision to close
In the 1989/90 school year, 16 students from grades 1 to 5 attended the school. The last annual report of the school board reads : “ Avendo deciso di chiudere i battenti alla fine dell'anno scolastico 1989/1990 solo 2 allievi italiani frequentano ancora il nostro istituto. ”(German:“ After the decision was made to close the school at the end of the 1989/90 school year, only two Italian students are still attending our school. ”) For the Swiss students, a solution was found in consultation with the school in nearby Ponte Tresa . The two teachers were retired or on leave.
The school building
In 1931 the Swiss colony built Casa Elvetica on Via Bernardino Luini. The representatives of the textile industry, private individuals, the Confederation with a contribution from the federal party donation and the Protestant church, for which a church hall was set up, all contributed to the financing of Casa Elvetica . When representatives of Hitler's Germany moved into Luino during the Second World War, the school officials feared that the squatters could turn the Scuola Svizzera into a German school. To prevent this, the shares in Casa Elvetica were overwritten in Switzerland and deposited with the consulate in Milan . After the end of the war, this measure could be reversed. The Casa Elvetica was to the Italian cooperative in 1992 , Coop sold. They needed the site for the construction of their extension in 2003.
literature
- Commemoration for the 50th anniversary of the Swiss School Luino. 1933 . (PDF)
- Report Scuola Svizzera Luino, 1955 . (PDF)
- Annual reports Scuola Svizzera. Swiss Federal Archives .
- Pierangelo Frigerio: Luino. Un Secolo, 1885–1985 . Banca Popolare di Luino e di Varese, Luino 1985, OCLC 878601512 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Walter Baumgartner: Our schools for the Swiss Abroad. (Separate reprint from the weekly magazine Schweizer Jugend. Nos. 33/1951, 44/1951 and 15/1952).