150 years of education

This year we at YA! celebrate that a two-year agricultural school was established in 1859 in Vanha Vaasa through an imperial decree.

• The first school day of the agricultural school was 1 November, 1859. It was begun with a service in church conducted by parish priest Fredrik Oskar Durchman.
• The class consisted of ten male students and five female students who received scholarships together with three male students who paid for their tuition.
• The acceptance requirement to the school was the ability to read well.
• The students had long days. They rose at 5 in the morning to wash themselves (in the winter).
• The daily curriculum was an alternation of lessons and practical work and supper was eaten at 8 in the evening.
• The curriculum included for example the making of agricultural tools and forging. The girls were taught animal husbandry, milk preparation, butter and cheese-making as well as various house chores.

The school’s 150-year anniversary celebration

On September 5, the celebration of 150 years of education at Yrkesakademin in Ostrobothnia reached its culmination. An anniversary lunch for 160 guests with celebration speeches by professors Hannu Katajamäki and Erland Eklund was. State secretary Jouni Lind also conveyed the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry’s address. The audience also saw a audio-visual presentation by the title of Kungsgården – Education on Historic Grounds, which documented the passing of history.
On account of the anniversary a book has been published which documents the past 150 years. The book’s title is ”Skolorna på Korsholm 1859-2009. ”