Poet, Educator and Eventual Easter Rising Rebel Patrick Pearse Opens St. Ednas School for Boys (Scoil Eanna)

On 8 September 1908, Patrick Pearse — poet, educator, and future Easter Rising leader — opens St. Enda’s School for Boys (Scoil Éanna) in Rathfarnham, Dublin.

Pearse envisioned the school as an alternative to the colonial-style education system, seeking to cultivate Irish identity and pride in the Gaelic past, language, and traditions. The school emphasized bilingual education (Irish and English), nature studies, and national history, drawing on progressive European educational theories of the time.

Scoil Éanna attracted many future nationalist leaders and left a lasting legacy in Irish education and republican history.