The Uriankhai Region (Tuva): Development of the School System in the Early 20th Century

Abstract

The article deals with the period of primary education system development in Tuva. It is from the early 20th century, when the first Russian schools were founded, that the Tuvan people received the opportunity to obtain secular education for the first time ever. It is believed that despite the difficult socio-economic conditions, the school system of the Uriankhai Region had a stable growth due to public participation of Russian immigrants. The article studies some features of the history of the first educational institutions’ formation, in particular, the actual methods of interaction between government agencies and the society in the field of education that so far have remained understudied. The present work gives special consideration to the subject. The paper shows that the system of the first Russian schools was founded in a relatively short period of time (1908-1919), which subsequently became a reliable stepping stone for the general development of educational institutions in the territory of the Tuvan People’s Republic (1921-1944). The complex process of school system formation in the Uriankhai Region is viewed upon through the prism of an extensive range of sources analyzed using a significant set of archival materials. The stage of Tuva’s educational system formation is poorly understood. So, the article attempts to fill the existing gap. The novelty of the work lies in the fact that the complex approach to the problem is applied for the first time. The school education of the Uriankhai Region has been considered as an integral structure which had been exposed not only to economic and political processes but was also closely related to the social structure of the community. The paper is the first one to discuss the social aspects of the formation of Tuva’s school education in detail, and shows that - along with state participation - the public initiatives of rural communities in the Uriankhai Region that held meetings (general meetings) to pass decisions about the opening of new schools were of great importance. It is noteworthy that, despite the then difficult conditions in a new place, the settlers perfectly well understood the need for primary education for their children and put every possible effort into it.