“In favour of Russian Interests…”: to the Issue of the “Cultural Mission” of Education in Turkestan Area at the Close of the 19th and Beginning of the 20th Centur

Abstract

The article deals with the issue of the “cultural mission” of the Russian educational system in the Turkestan region in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Having studied the materials of the publicistic and periodical press, the author of the article concludes that the primary task of the school education in Turkestan was not just to maintain the educational level in general, but to demonstrate the superior level of Russian culture (in comparison with the indigenous population of Central Asia). Russian educational system in this region was constantly changing, trying to carry out its “cultural mission” initially through ordinary schools, then through specially created Russian-native ones, while encountering resistance from the influential traditional Muslim school. Still that “cultural mission” was impeded by the low level of literacy and education of the Russian settlers, the non-satisfactory training of teachers, and the half-heartedness of the administrative measures taken.