Schwyz - Education

Education

In Schwyz about 4,873 or (35.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 1,473 or (10.7%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 1,473 who completed tertiary schooling, 71.1% were Swiss men, 19.4% were Swiss women, 5.3% were non-Swiss men and 4.1% were non-Swiss women. As of 2000, there were 419 students in Schwyz who came from another municipality, while 186 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Schwyz is home to the Kantonsbibliothek Schwyz library. The library has (as of 2008) 108,142 books or other media, and loaned out 136,064 items in the same year. It was open a total of 276 days with average of 29 hours per week during that year.

A major school in Schwyz is the Kantonsschule Kollegium Schwyz (KKS), an upper Secondary school that is a Gymnasium and a vocational or technical college. The KKS has operated for over 150 years, though it builds on several older schools. The first Latin school in Schwyz opened in 1627 in the former Capuchin monastery of St. Josef im Loo. This school remained open until the 1798 French invasion. On 25 July 1841, the Jesuits laid the cornerstone of what would become the Jesuit College on the site of the modern Kollegium. The school opened in 1844 but only remained under Jesuit control for three years. In 1847, Federal troops marched into Schwyz to suppress the Catholic Sonderbund and forced the Jesuits to flee. It was reopened in 1855 under the Capuchin Father Theodosius Florentini and in the following year began teaching students. The school continued to teach students using both religious and secular teachers until the 1970s. In 1972, the lower Secondary students moved to Pfäffikon and the school became an upper Secondary Kantonsschule.