The System of Public Education in Don Host Oblast (1790-1917). Part 1

This study explores the system of public education in Don Host Oblast in the period 1790- 1917. The present part of the study focuses on the period 1790-1900. The principal sources for the study are periodicals associated with Don Host Oblast, including Transactions of the Don Host Statistics Committee, Memorandum Books for Don Host Oblast, Don Host Oblast Directory, and the reference periodical Don Oblast and the North Caucasus, as well as the yearly Most Faithful Report of the Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod. The study's findings revealed that during the period 1790-1900 Don Host Oblast witnessed brisk development in its public education sector. In that time, serious work in this area in the region was carried out by the Ministry of Public Education and the Holy Synod. By 1900, the Don region had an entire network of schools, which included 15 secondary, as many lower, and more than 1,500 primary educational institutions. For a long time, the region experienced a significant gender imbalance (girls accounting for 10-15 % of the total number of students). In the late 19th century, this imbalance began to decrease, with the number of girls reaching 39 % in 1900 - a definite success in terms of making education equally accessible for both genders in the region.