The Public Education System in Voronezh Governorate in the Period 1703-1917. Part 1

This paper examines the public education system in Voronezh Governorate in the period 1703-1917. This part of the collection represents an attempt to reproduce a picture of how the region's public education system developed between 1703 and 1861. In putting this work together, the authors drew upon a pool of statistical data published in Memorandum Books for Voronezh Governorate, reports by the Minister of Public Education, and Memorandum Books for certain educational institutions (e.g., the Voronezh Male Gymnasium). The authors' conclusion is that, overall, the public education system in Voronezh Governorate developed in complicated conditions. During the 18th century, this process was influenced by both external (e.g., wars) and internal (e.g., lack of funding and teachers' daily-life difficulties) factors. The lack of consistency in the operation of the governorate's school system was resolved only after there appeared in the region educational institutions funded by the government. By the beginning of the 1860s, Voronezh Governorate witnessed the creation of an entire network of educational institutions that were subordinate to governmental agencies (the Ministry of Public Education, the Department of Religious Affairs, and the Department of State Property). During that period, the region witnessed the establishment of a gymnasium, a teachers' seminary, and an ecclesiastical seminary, i.e. educational institutions that were potential providers of a skilled local workforce essential to the development of the public education system.