Don Bosco Sint-Denijs-Westrem

The Don Bosco Technical Institute has a history since 1903, when the Congregation of the Salesians, at the request of Count de Hemptinne, accepted a foundation in the "Maaltebrugge" district. A Greek-Latin department was set up and a "vocational school" for woodworkers, sculptors, tailors and shoemakers. The Germans occupied the school buildings between 1914-1918. Nevertheless, the lessons continued until 1917, after which the school was transferred to the Mariakring in Ghent, and this until 1919. In 1937 the wing was built for the humanities students and the wing was adapted for the boarding school. In May 1940, the second war broke out and the entire school was occupied again, first with 400 refugees, then by Allied troops. The school will be closed. In October 1944, the school was able to start again with 41 pupils. In the course of the following years, the school expanded with the construction of the classroom block along the Maalte, in 1954 with the construction of an army barracks for the woodworking workshop, and with a gymnasium. The current buildings along the Kortrijkseseteenweg date from 1955. In 1961, work began on the expansion of the Zwijnaarde College. A year later, in 1962, the college moved in.

Dromos