The article analyzes the work of Tomsk schools during the Great Patriotic War. The aim of the study is to reveal the changes that took place in the sphere of secondary general education in Tomsk during the war. The study is based on the materials from the State Archive of the Tomsk Region. Tomsk, as well as other rear cities of the country, faced a number of problems from the first months of the war. Schools of the city worked in extremely difficult conditions. When the war began, 20 school buildings were transformed into hospitals for wounded soldiers. More than 30% of the city schools had to operate three shifts a day, one of them even four. Throughout the war, Tomsk schools experienced the lack of fuel for heating and shortage of writing utensils, paper and textbooks. They addressed this problem differently: schoolchildren wrote on kraft paper, in the margins and between the lines in old books as well as collected old textbooks from residents to restore them. One of the biggest wartime problems was the fact that many children did not attend school. Lack of clothing and shoes became one of the most common reasons for not showing up at school. The same grounds made pupils miss many classes, especially in autumn slush and severe frosts. The city and local public education authorities, schools and teachers did a lot to provide Vseobuch. They offered material assistance to children in need, many schools organized the collection and restoration of old things and encouraged sponsoring organizations to help. On the whole, they managed to maintain student population size in this difficult time. Therefore, the war significantly changed the sphere of secondary general education in Tomsk. The specific wartime conditions influenced the nature and content of school education. Many students had to abandon their studies for various reasons. They needed to take care of their younger siblings and manage their household. Increased numbers of orphans along with the lack of clothes and shoes prevented many schoolchildren from attending classes. Throughout the war, public education authorities and school teachers tried to keep student population of general education schools at the same level and avert child neglect. The transformation of school buildings into hospitals, lack of textbooks and copybooks, inability to provide the educational process with necessary visual aids, worn-out furniture and school equipment are the main characteristics of the material and technical situation in wartime schools. The war significantly weakened school teaching staff. There were very limited opportunities for schools to be replenished with university graduates. All these circumstances affected the quality of education. However, schools in Tomsk and nationwide mostly retained their student population, organizational structure and teaching traditions, which paved the way for further development and improvement of the quality of education.
