Educational policy of the authorities in the national regions of Katerinoslav - Dnipropetrovsk (1920s – 1930s)

Abstract

The aim is to analyze the educational policy of the state in the national districts of Katerynoslav province, later – on the territory of Dnipropetrovska oblast with the biggest concentration of the national formations in the republic. Research methods: historical-genetic, historical-comparative and historical-systemic. The main results. It was detected that after the ending of the civil war, representatives of national minorities perceived the ideology of the Bolshevik government without enthusiasm. To strengthen their influence in this environment, they decided to create human resources from local population that were loyal to the party. In the complex of measures that were directed to solve this problem, the most important place was given to the educational policy, on the base on the influence of consciousness of the society and in the first place to its growing generation. It was done by creating a network of general and secondary special educational institutions. The specific formation of this policy in the region is shown. Quantitative indicators testified that on the territory of Katerynoslav (Dnipropetrovs’k) notice able positive results took place in the sphere of education. Despite the proclamation of priority in the development of education, the state did not allocate enough money for this sphere. There were serious problems with providing educational literature in the native language. Circulations and nomenclature of planned educational manuals did not meet the needs. That is why teachers of schools and secondary special educational institutions needed to conduct the educational process due to pre-revolionary or Russian textbooks, or even due to fiction literature. There was a shortage of school facilities. However, it is noted that to the end of the 1920s among national minorities, the percentage of primary education coverage ranged from 80 % to almost 100 %. It is emphasized that a network of various secondary special educational institutions were created. The training of specialists was under a significant ideological influence. From the early 1930s, the policy of indigenization, liquidation of educational institutions, and repression of their pedagogical staff began under the slogans of accusations of “espionage” and “counterrevolutionary activity”. In the middle of 1938 educational institutions of all national minorities ceased to exist. Concise conclusions: educational policy among national minorities in Katerynoslav region was conducted in accordance with the proclamation, which consisted in the introduction of party ideology through the formation in the system of institutions of national education of personnel trained in the spirit of Bolshevik ideology. In the 1920s it was properly implemented. From the early 1930s, educational policy began to change and teaching in national languages began to curtail, accompanied by repression of educators. The process ended in middle of 1938 with liquidation of educational institutions of all types and transition to Russian or Ukrainian languages. In this way, the authorities initiated the process of assimilation and Russification of national minorities in the region. Type of article: research article.