Education

It is highly probable that school education was brought to the village by the reform.
The first information dates back at the beginning of the XVII Century. The annual tax records
already mention teachers: in 1625 rector Janosi Marton, in 1651 rector Thuri Janos, whom
already was teaching the art of writing to the village children. After the withdrawal of the
reformers, the school activity was continued by the roman-catholic church. At the end of the
XIX Century, teaching was held in an old building, belonging to the church on the other side of
the road. The old building had a roof made of hay. In 1864 the school had 37 students.
Information referring to the roman-catholic school is related in a school report of the School
Inspectorate, dating back to 1878.

The building and its equipment:

The school building was a low peasant house, with a hay roof and its walls were made of clay
and hay. It was not built accordingly to the educational law from 1868. In the schools building
there was also the teachers home, a room, which had no floor. There was a single room for
teaching, 2 m and 13 cm high, 4 m and 83 cm long, 4 m and 37 cm width. The single classroom
had floor and it had desks.

Equipment:

A black board, illustrative panels, a globe, a Hungarian map.

The schoolyard: 8m and 53 cm width, 28 m and 45 cm long, surrounded by a fence made of

board and a common well. The school has no owner, it is held up by the community. The
firewood is brought by the students.

Number of students:

Roman-catholic: Ages between 6 and 12: 24 boys and 26 girls.

Ages between 13 and 15: 9 boys and 14 girls, 73 in total.

Greek-catholic: Ages between 6 and 12: 34 boys and 36 girls.

Ages between 13 and 15: 28 boys and 26 girls, 124 in total.

Primary school students: 19 boys and 16 girls, 35 in total.

Failed students: 5 boys and 7 girls, in total 12, grand total 47.

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 The school year is made of 10 months, exceptions are market days, the holidays and
Sundays. The studied language is Hungarian, the students dont learn other languages.
During summer and winter, 20 students attend school, during winter there are 47, every
student has a book. The students are divided per class like this: 1st grade- 8 students, 2nd
grade- 4 students, 3rd grade- 5 students, 5th grade 7 students, 6th grade- 6 students. The
students are divided per desks in the classroom.

The teacher: Szemere Janos, 72 years old, got his degree in Oradea in 1828, having a 50
year old experience on the field. At Porumbeti, he has been teaching for 40 years. The
payment: 10 forint and 50 crowns from the Ham fond, 10 forint and 50 crowns from the
liturgies held at the church, 63 forint from the Szecsenyi- Kolomit fond, corn and barley: 9
hectolitres or 16 bushel, a half of bushel of corn after every child, as a church tax.

The teacher has to his disposition an interior and an exterior garden. His tillable ground
in milestone is 31 iugre (1 iugr= 0,5775 ha) and 10 iugre of hayfield. As a roman-catholic
teacher in Porumbeti, he receives 20 forint from the foundation pay office, in six-monthly
rates, and from the Hagymasy Foundation he receives annually the sum of 2 forint and 40
crowns, from the named Kovats Jozsef, from Gyakovo, who administered the Foundations
capital. Probable the visit of the School Inspectorate urged the church to build a new school in
September, 1878.

The new building is finished by 6th May, 1880. This contains a classroom and the home
of the teacher. These details were found in a report of the School Inspectorate: the classroom
is 8 m long, 5 m and 5 cm width, the home is made of 2 rooms, a kitchen and a storage room.
The classroom has a floor made of board and it has desks. The yard has 150 stnjeni
(1 stnjeni= 1, 50 m) and it is surrounded by a fence made of entwined twigs, it also has
parallel bars for gymnastics.

The number of roman-catholic who attend school is that of 46, from which 43 attend
school. The teacher was Deak Jozsef, 24 years old, who got his degree in Satu Mare in 1884,
with a 5 year old experience on the field, receiving 149 forint and 80 crowns, 40 crowns from
every childs school tax. Because of the poverty, not even half of it is received from the school
tax, after every child the teacher should receive bushel of grain, but even from these just a
small part is gathered, just 2 buckets. Also 3 buckets of corn and 2 of grain. The garden is 830
stnjeni, the field has 17 arable iugre and 7 iugre of hayfield.

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 In 1904 the number of children who were attending school was 44, from which 24 were
boys 20 girls, in 1921 there were 78, from which 35 boys and 43 girls. From the records of the
civil status, dating back to 1888, we find out that the following people taught here: Deak Jozsef
(1888-89), Gczy Istvn (1898-1919), he leaved the village after the war, Filep Mihly comes in
his place, who works here till 1940, living in the school building with his family; Lovad Lszl
(1940-43) recruited in the army, he is followed by Szabo Tibor, who, because of the lack of
teachers in the war period, is placed here from a normal school where he was teaching for 4
years, he stays here till 1919.

The roman-catholic teachers were teaching the I-IV graders and the school tuition fee
has to be paid. After finishing 4 classes, the students continue studying in the schools V-VIIth
classes. It must be mentioned that there were a lot of Greek-catholic children in the school
and all the Jews attended this school. The first information regarding the school, date back to
1849, when the costs of renovation of the school are mentioned in the church budget. From
here we conclude that the building must be old and the teaching started way before the
renovation. This building also had a 8 x 6 m classroom and the home of the teacher. It was in
the place of a former health center, which was owned by the church. In the middle of the
1800s, the teacher was Korpos Laszlo, next to him was named a substitute teacher in 1880,
Levinsky Emanuel. The document containing information about the payment noted the
following: Leader of a choir-teacher systematized with the occasion of registration in the
account book, made in 1880-81, belonging to the popular school of Greek-catholic church
from Porumbeti, assigned in the rank of Satu Mare, district beyond Tisa of Ugocea district,
belonging to the Muncaci Diocese.

The Endowment: beside the home and the garden, other sources of income are: 18
iugre and 598 arable stnjeni, 12 buckets of corn and 50 forint. Total value is 172 forint and
400 crowns. In this community, the teacher was also the leader of the church choir, and re
received payment for this too. This was written in 21st December, 1882, Porumbeti.

At the end of the Century, teacher-leader of choir, Babinecz Tivadar, was receiving for
his services, 400 forint and 78 crowns.

School Equipment: 12 desks (4 persons/each desk) 2 blackboards, 3 maps ( Hungary, Europe,

Ugocea) a globe, 24 small reading boards, 14 illustrative panels of nature, 1 computer, 1 ABC,
1 flag and Teachers Magazines, 1890-1900 editions. The number of students at the end of the
century was between 70- 90, by 1913-1914 their number was 87, in 1921-22, they were 78.

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 In 1924, by the Minister orders, the Greek-catholic teaching is ended and it is replaced
by the Free State Education, using Romanian language in teaching. Starting that year, the
Hungarian names were written in the School register books using Romanian letters, for
example: Peleschei Juliana, Cheghes Maria, Cinos Ioan, Kofiti tefan.

For the State Education, in 1932, a new school was built, with 2 classes, on the West
side of the main road, between the 2 churches, on the old Svbi domain. After the Agreement
at Trianon, the Svbi family leaved the village. Their home, surrounded by fir and linden trees,
with the view to the main road, and its field around the house, is divided and sold to the
villagers. A small part from the field goes under the States possession, the school being built
here. School teaching under Romanian language ended in 1940. After that year, teaching was
held in Hungarian.

The teachers of the Greek-catholic school and that of the State School, according to the
school register books were: Baninecz Tivadar (1894-98), Bisztran Antl (1989-99), Babinecz
Tivadar (1899-1919), he left after the Agreement at Trianon, the young Kofiti Gyrgy comes in
his place, born in Porumbeti. He has to deal with a lot of things, because he has to reorganize
teaching in Hungarian, thought in the spirit of the church, in State Education where the used
language is Romanian. In 1926, his wife is assigned next to him, as help, the catholic teacher,
Filep Joln. In 1938, Popovics Istvn is hired as a third teacher.

Flp Jolan leaves in 1940 and Koffy Gyrgy in 1941, the principals role been taken over
by Popovics Istvan, who deployed his activity till the date of the Educational Reform.

Even if the schools were functioning for centuries now, in the first century, there were a
lot of illiterate people in the village. We can learn this fact from old church documents, where
there is written information about illiterateness. After the mane of these people, there is an
X mark as a signature. In most cases, schools are not divided per class, there is a single
teacher, who had to deal sometimes with even 60-80 students at once. In such classes,
children studied from 1st grade till 6th.

In 1948, starts the so called Educational Reform, when church schools were
nationalized, at Porumbeti, an elementary school with 7 classes was formed, where teaching
was held in Hungarian, there were 4 posts for teachers and 6 for professors. Starting this year
and till 1962, those who finished 4 classes in Cidreag, continued their studies in V-VIIth grades
at the school located in Porumbeti. Once the number of students increased, it was necessary
for an extension of the school. Thats why in 1950, the old Greek-catholic schools building was

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demolished and the obtained materials were used in the extension of the so called Big School,
adding an extra room and a common room for the teachers. To this same building, in 1962,
were added 2 classrooms and the principals office. This way, today there are 5 classrooms
which are used. Even with this changes, the number of rooms were still not enough, so
teaching was held in 2 periods, till 1991 ( in the morning and in the afternoon). In 1968, when
Porumbeti lost his commune statute, the census building was freed and given to the school.
In this building, in 2 rooms, a kindergarten started to function, and in the other 3 rooms a
middle school. Starting from the middle 1960s, at the pressure of the superior court, a
Romanian section starts to function in the school. This way, in primary section, in 4 classes
teaching is held in Hungarian, and in 2 classes Romanian is the studied language. In secondary
education there were 4 classes where the language used was Romanian and 4 were
Hungarian. The number of students in classes was between 10 and 20, because there were
classes where Romanian was used, this low number of students per class was allowed. In many
cases, the teachers had to convince the parents to put their children in Romanian classes, this
way classes were able to function in Hungarian too.

Since 1991, teaching in V-VII grade was held only in Hungarian. In 1991, Porumbeti
Elementary School teaches I-X graders and it continues to function this way till the end of the
1991 school year, when after an order from the center it stops to work this way.

Regarding the professional training of the teachers, the school was at its top in the
second half of the 1970s, when every teacher and professor had a degree in its speciality.
Since 1948, the schools principals were: Szkely Kroly (1948-53), Ktai Jzsef ( 1953-55),
Mako Endre (1957-56), Toth Andrs ( 1956-1957), Mako Endre (1957-66), dismissed by the
Romanisation acts, Barlea Ioan (1965-68), Fazekas Lornd (1968-80), tar Aranka (1980-88),
Szegedy Gyrgy (1988-90).

Popovics Istvn worked more than 30 years in the school and he retired in 1958, teacher
Popovics Erzsbet in 1985, husband and wife Toth Andras and Toth Margit in 1988, teacher
Mako Juliana in 1990, teacher Mako Endre in 1991, who was born and raised in Porumbeti,
he spent most of his time here teaching, in 1993 teacher Fazekas Erzsbet, she teached in this
school since 1955.

Since the middle on the 1960s, those who, finished school in Porumbeti, continued
their studies in a big number in schools located in Satu Mare, Livada, Oradea and most of them
went to Professional High Schools. Few of them were interested in Theoretical High Schools or
Superior Education. This thinking has its explanation in their parents concepts, they
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considered learning handicraft more accessible and profitable from a materialistic point of
view. By thinking this way, in the last 30 years, only 3 people got a degree as a teacher, 1
person studied at an Art University, 1 got a degree as a doctor, another one as an economist
and only one as an engineer.

As intellectual predecessors we have to mention 4 Roman-catholic priests, born in

Porumbeti: Kotr Pl (1790-1841), Buttykai Gspar (1809-1850), Kotr Jzsef, Szemk Pl
(1817-1880), Csopaki Csook Ballint (1824-1898), who for a long time was also a judge, also we
must remember pianist and opera writer Buttykay kos, born in 1871, he first studied law,
then music in Budapesta and in Weinar, returning to Budapesta in 1895, perfecting his
knowledge in the domain of music and orchestra.

His musical works appeared and were presented at the beginning of the Century:
operettas Flying Greek (1905), The king of the prankish (1907) and the artistic production
John the Brave, and many other symphonical works.