Parochial schools in Yakutia’s intellectual landscape (the second half of 19th - early 20th century)

Abstract

The article deals with the activities of the parochial schools in the Yakut region in the second half 19th - early 20th century as the region’s main primary schools. The authors consider the effect of the climate and the local population’s living conditions to explain the slow growth of these schools. Among other, it also discusses disagreements between the region’s secular and spiritual authorities about education, as well as how the institutions were financed. It argues the teachers, as members of the intelligentsia, were Yakutia’s intellectual elites, which enabled them to influence public opinion. Their educational activities, involvement in academic research, journalism and art significantly enriched the region’s intellectual life. The authors conclude that parochial schools enabled the population to receive primary education, as well as the possibility of further study. Both secular and religious educators contributed to the formation of the intelligentsia nationally and the integration of the Yakut periphery into the empire.