Public Education in the Russian Empire at the end of the 19th century

The paper reviews primary education in the Russian Empire at the end of the 19th century. It focuses on describing the successes and shortcomings of the public education system, as well as identifying the causes of its poor efficiency. As a summary, the authors concluded that the government of the Russian Empire consolidated major efforts to improve public education since the mid-19th century. At the same time, it is important to note that the government was not only committed to educating the population, but it also prioritized the role of parochial schools in the process, which paid much more attention to the spiritual and moral component. This is why significant numbers of parochial schools were opened across the Russian Empire, and the institutions enjoyed funding from the state treasury. On the other hand, schools in the system of the Ministry of Public Education, as well as zemstvo (zemstvo – an elective council responsible for the local administration of a provincial district in czarist Russia) and city schools financed by these communities, grew at a much less marked rate. In general, by the end of the 19th century, Russia achieved the encouraging progress in public education, and the transition to universal education was only a matter of time.