John Amos Komensky

John Amos Komensky (Comenius) 1529-1616

Comenuis was one of the early educators who contributed to a ‘universal system of education’ which planned to teach all things to all children. Comenius had a special plan for preschoolers which was known as “mother school or nursery school” for children up to six.

According to Comenius, early childhood is the mother should be well aware of the needs of the child, give him love and care and make the child familiar with his home environment. The mother should have a special place teach children and this is known as “school at mother’s knee”.

Comenius was the”initiator” of the home based early childhood education. He stressed on protecting children’s health. Comenius was also concerned about the security and happiness essential in the earliest years.

Comenius considered that the class rooms should be provides the young children with a pleasant learning environment attractive to the eye. The rooms should be bright and clean, walls ornamented with pictures, he considered that the school should have an open area as a garden to walk run and play and it should be fest to the eye with trees, flowers, and plants.

He further suggested that education should be given step by step, from the simple to the more complex and from near to the distant and from the general to the more specific.

What Comenius believed as attributes of the true teacher are to be adopted by the preschool teacher.

He suggested three types of preschools

Mother’s school, infant school and nursery school.

Comenius was a teacher, scientist, educator, and a writer. He was one of the earliest champions of universal education. Comenius became known as the teacher of the nations.

Life and work

The birth place of Comenius is unknown. There are three possible locations. Komna, Nivnice, or Uhersky Brod. Komna is a small village where his parents lived. Comenius had spent his childhood in a small village called Nivnice. He has moved to Uhersky Brod. There is a museum devoted to him there.

He had studied in Herbon(1611-13) and Heidelberg(1613-14) He returns to Latin school as a teacher of the school.

Comenius became a pastor at age 24 and led the Brethren in to exile when the protestants where persecuted under the Counter Reformation. He worked and lived in many different countries in Europe, Including Sweden, the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, Transylvania, the Holy Roman Empire, England the Netherlands, and Royal Hungary.

After being lived in somany countries, Comenius then lived in Transylvania till 1654, He was the professor of the first Hungarian protestant college. And he wrote some of his most important works there. Then Comenius had been to Leszno and during the northen wars in 1655 declared his support for the protestant Swedish side, for which his house, his manuscripts, and the school printing press were burned down by Polish partisans in 1670. For nuclear reasons he was buried in Naarden where his grave can be visited in the museum devoted to him.

Comenius was the author of the “labyrinth of the world and paradise of the heart”, which was known as the reflection of his experience.

Comenius was the author of numerous publications, such as”Janua linguarum Reserta”, “world in pictures” and the “protestant hymn book”

During the nineteenth century Comenius became idealized as a su\ymbol of the Czech nation.

His birthday March 28^th is celebrated as teachers’ day in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic.

The Comenius medal one of the UNESCO’s most prestigious awards honoring outstanding achievements in the fields of education research and innovation is named after him.

In 1919 the Comenius University was founded in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia.

A European Union school partnership program (Comenius European cooperation on school education) has been named after the teacher of nations.