The current physical education hall was built in 1935 as a Sokol Home with the help of donors (the Sokol Society existed from 1929 to 1937). The school changed its names over time, following various transformations and educational reforms.
Since 1954, it existed as the School for Apprentices in the Economy, and in 1957 as the School for General Education of Workers. The Economic School began its operations in 1961 in the building that currently houses the public utility company.
The Grammar School in Novi Kneževac was founded in 1962 with natural sciences-mathematics and social science streams, offering instruction in both Serbian and Hungarian. The current school building was constructed in 1962, at which time the Economic School and the Grammar School moved into the new premises. This school was named the Braća Ribar Grammar School, and the following year, the Economic School was closed.
During the period of vocationally oriented secondary education and upbringing (introduced in 1975), starting from April 1, 1977, the school operated under the name: May 25th School for Secondary Education. In 1978, the Grammar School ceased to operate, and in the school years 1978/79 and 1979/80, students were educated in cultural, legal, and translation streams. At the same time, the school hosted detached departments of the metalworking profession from the Petar Drapšin Center for Joint and Oriented Secondary Education and Upbringing in Ada.
The Economic School reopened in 1979 as a satellite department from Kikinda, and the chemical-technological school as a satellite department from Sremska Mitrovica. On June 30, 1983, an integration occurred with the Kanjiža school under the name: Brotherhood-Unity Inter-municipal School Center for Oriented Secondary Education and Upbringing Kanjiža–Novi Kneževac.
In this building, mechanical and chemical vocational streams were held. In the 1988/89 school year, a detached department of the transport school from Subotica was introduced. On July 1, 1989, the schools in Novi Kneževac and Kanjiža separated. The school was named: May 25th School for Secondary Education and Upbringing. The chemical school was closed in 1992. On March 19, 1993, the school was renamed Dositej Obradović Secondary School Novi Kneževac, within which a satellite department of the Jovan Trajković catering school from Zrenjanin was opened, followed by a satellite department of the Dušan Vasiljev Grammar School from Kikinda in 1994.
The Grammar School in Novi Kneževac operated as a satellite department until 2001.
Since 2001, the Grammar School has been an independent institution.
By the decision of the Provincial Government of Vojvodina on January 10, 2019, regarding the closure of the Grammar School and the Dositej Obradović Secondary School, a new school was opened on September 2, 2019, under the name Dositej Obradović Grammar and Vocational School Novi Kneževac. The school offers the following fields of study and profiles: grammar school – general type; transport – road traffic technician (four-year duration) and motor vehicle driver (three-year duration in Hungarian); and the field of trade, catering, and tourism with vocational profiles for cook and pastry chef in both Serbian and Hungarian languages, with a three-year duration.
