Coreligionist parochial schools of the Samara province in the second half of the XIX – early XX century

Abstract

The article presents a historical overview of the emergence and formation of educational institutions of the coreligionists of the Samara province in the pre-revolutionary period. The history of coreligionist parochial schools is considered in two main aspects. On the one hand, they were an integral part of the public education system in the Samara province and were in the general context of the development of school business in this region. On the other hand, Orthodox-Old Believers schools often arose on the initiative of the coreligionists themselves, not only with the aim of spreading literacy, but also as one of the necessary tools for preserving and transmitting confessional traditions. In connection with this circumstance, the coreligionist educational institutions had characteristic features that distinguished them from the rest of the parochial schools of the province. Among the peculiar features of the school business of coreligionists, the following features are indicated: the emphasis of the curriculum on teaching according to old-printed books, the close connection of the educational process with church worship, the pronounced missionary nature of the activities of coreligionist parochial schools. At the beginning of the XX century, coreligionist schools were formed as part of the public education system of the Samara province, having confessional specifics in the organization of the educational process. The article presents statistical data on the number of coreligionist schools, the number of students, the teaching staff and the material support of educational institutions. In the preparation of the article, the method of analysis of historical documents, historical-system, historical-comparative methods were used. The source base of the research is based on archival documents of the Central State Archive of the Samara region, as well as materials of official reports of school observers and missionaries published both in separate publications and on the pages of the Samara Diocesan Gazette (Samarskiye eparkhialnye vedomosty).