The Development of the System of Public Education in Tambov Province in the second half of the XIX-early XX centuries. Part 1

The paper considers the system of public education on the territory of the Tambov province in the period 1861-1917. This part of the article analyzes the period from 1861-1900. The commemorative books of the Tambov province from 1861 to 1900 are used as sources. The statistical data in this source on the education system are very fragmentary, which causes significant difficulties in the analysis. "The most comprehensive reports of the Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod" cover only educational institutions of the church department. The research methodology includes a set of historical methods, such as historical-system, historical -comparative, historical-typological, historical-genetic and historical-statistical methods, as well as a number of general scientific research methods, such as synthetic analysis, content analysis, system analysis. In the course of the work, the authors came to the conclusion that the system of public education of the province developed unevenly, the special growth of ministerial educational institutions occurred in the 70-90s of the XIX century, during which the number of educational institutions increased three times; secondary education also significantly increased. A strong increase in the primary educational institutions of the spiritual department was observed in the period from 1884 to 1900 (the number of parochial schools and literacy schools increased from 29 to 1186). The number of students has also grown (from 931 people to more than 45 thousand). In general, in terms of the pace of education development and literacy coverage of the province's population, the Tambov province in the second half of the XIX century showed very good results, significantly overtaking other territories of the Russian Empire (in particular, most of the regions and provinces of the Caucasian Educational District, as well as Astrakhan, Penza, Vologda and other provinces).