Formation of a network of educational institutions in Left Bank Ukraine at the end of the 18th century (for study the history of Ukraine in practical classes for 8th grade students)

Abstract

The article examines the progress of the formation of a network of educational institutions in Left Bank Ukraine at the end of the 18th century, characterizes the legislative requirements for the mandatory opening of schools (colleges) in all provincial and district cities without exception and optional ones in the largest villages, presents a picture of the real process of opening charter schools only in provincial and some district left-bank cities, concentrated primarily in the richer northern part of LeftBank Ukraine, identifies objective restrictions on the implementation of legislative requirements (competition from the parochial school, cultural conservatism, inability of educational programs to the real requirements of the estates). Particular attention is paid to such reasons for the disagreements between reform plans and educational realities as the changing administrative division, the instability of the external and internal borders of the left bank region and, accordingly, the network of provincial and district centers to which the priority opening of schools was «tied», as well as the lack of buildings suitable for the placement of educational institutions. Trustee of the Kharkov educational district S. A. Pototsky generally considered the lack of decent buildings to be the main reason hindering the spread of schools and their proper arrangement. The next educational reform of 1803-1804 was supposed to eradicate the systemic mistakes of previous governments with its educational districts and the vertical of educational institutions required to open – a parish school (parish), a district school (district city), a provincial school or gymnasium (provincial city) and a university (one of the provincial cities, determined by the center of the educational district), which implied large-scale (incomparable with the previous era) financial investments from the center into the development of local education.

Key words: college; school; network; law; administrative division; building.