Out-of-School Activities of Zemstvos to Overcome Relapses into Illiteracy (with Reference to Perm Province)

Abstract

Referring to Perm Zemstvo, this article considers the role of out-of-school activities of Zemstvo establishments in overcoming relapses into illiteracy, i.e. the loss of literacy skills and the return of the state of illiteracy. The Zemstvo leaders themselves, who were closely connected with the organisation of public education, were among the first to pay attention to this problem. The article highlights two main areas of activity of the Zemstvo in this field based on the analysis of materials of the Zemstvo records management such as journals of the Perm Provincial Zemstvo Assembly, reports, and periodicals. The two areas are the organisation of activities to improve literacy and the creation of an infrastructure to fight and prevent illiteracy. The activities of Perm Zemstvo in this area were aimed at organising Sunday, revision, and other types of schools and classes, libraries, and public readings. It was Sunday and revision and extracurricular classes and other activities that helped to maintain and improve the existing literacy rate, as well as prevent the recurrence of illiteracy. The infrastructure consisted of organisational measures proper and forms of Zemstvo’s activity in adult education, institutions, specialists that were only being formed in the early twentieth century, i.e. “adult education specialists” (Rus. vneshkolniki) that were seen as necessary, and material objects. The study shows that, despite the low results in some areas, the activities of the Zemstvo to prevent and overcome relapses of illiteracy in general were a definite step aimed at solving important sociocultural problems and were essential for the development of extracurricular education in this historical period.