РОЛЬ ПРИВАТНОЇ ІНІЦІАТИВИ ІНТЕЛІГЕНЦІЇ СЛОБІДСЬКОГО КРАЮ У ВИРІШЕННІ ПРОБЛЕМИ ЗБЕРЕЖЕННЯ Й ЗМІЦНЕННЯ ЗДОРОВ’Я УЧНІВСЬКОЇ МОЛОДІ (кінець ХІХ – початок ХХ століття)

Abstract

The research article under discussion proves that in the late 19th and early 20th century a prominent role in solving the problem of improving health of children and adolescents of the Slobidskyi region belonged to the private initiative of the progressive intelligentsia, including teachers, doctors, university professors and other public figures who united to form various associations, such as Kharkiv Society for the Promotion of Literacy, Pedagogical Department of the Historical and Philological Society of Kharkiv University, Society of Pediatric Doctors, Kharkiv Society for the Promotion of Child Physical Development and Child Care. The study reveals that the members of the mentioned associations took an active part both in developing the theoretical basis for tackling the problem of improving health, and in organizing numerous institutions and activities aimed at maintaining and strengthening children’s and adolescents’ health. The research findings show that meetings of various societies and congresses held in the Slobidskyi region at different times became the place for discussing topical issues related to the problem of maintaining and strengthening the health of children and adolescents, for example, and in particular, the meetings of the Congress on the organization of intelligent entertainment (1815), which was initiated by the Kharkiv Society for the Promotion of Literacy (with reports made by V. Horynevskyi, A. Rabynovych, M. Stanilovska and others). In the late 19th – early 20th century the problem of improving the health of children and adolescents came into focus and attracted considerable attention of private educational institutions functioning in the region. Some of them, for example a private gymnasium owned by D. Obolenska, were highly praised at the hygienic exhibition of the Society for the Protection of Public Health, hosted in St. Petersburg in the spring of 1893.The progressive local intelligentsia of the second half of the 19th – early 20th century also had a leading role in creating a network of educational institutions for children with special needs. The study describes the work of summer school colonies organized by the Kharkiv Literacy Society which founded the sanitary committee in 1898.The members of the committee, who were responsible for providing conditions for improving children’s health in the summertime, put forward the suggestion to create summer colonies in the Slobidskyi region whose main objectives were supposed to include enabling the weakest children from poor families to gain strength in healthy rural environment for further more successful and unimpeded studying; developing useful and good habits such as taking care of oneself and one’s friends, mutual help, mutual concessions; and, in general, assisting children’s moral development. It is highly important to highlight that the overall organization of those summer colonies was subject to the accomplishment of the sanitary and educational objectives listed above. Key words: private initiative, Slobidskyi region, maintaining and strengthening health, children and adolescents.