Evolution of Institution of Elementary Church School in Ossetia (1860—1917)

Abstract

The process of development of an elementary church school in Ossetia in the second half of the 19th — early 20th centuries is considered. It is shown that, being under the auspices of the spiritual department, the church school in Ossetia evolved in accordance with the guidelines set by the government policy in the field of education, but the transformation process had its own specifics. It is reported that the establishment and support of church schools was exclusively concerned with the Society for the Restoration of Orthodox Christianity in the Caucasus. It was found that church schools were in demand among the mountain peasantry, who sought to get at least an elementary education that performed important adaptive functions in the context of the collapse of traditional life and the formation of a new social reality in the post-reform period. It is emphasized that the lack of state support over time deprived the parish school of incentives and prospects for development. It is argued that the church school in Ossetia, unable to withstand competition with secular educational institutions, by 1917 was already practically incapable of fulfilling its educational tasks and therefore ceased to satisfy the local population, which began to show interest in secular educational institutions of the elementary level, which more fully met the increased educational demands.