The School System of the Transcaspian Region in the 1890s‑1910s as a Reflection of Imperial Unification Policy

Abstract

The article delves into the historical examination of Russian and Russian-Native elementary schools within the Trans-Caspian region, an autonomous territory under the dominion of the Russian Empire, which over the course of three decades of imperial rule, transformed into a cultural frontier. Given the economic advancement of this region characterized by military-administrative governance, the school emerged as a significant socio-cultural institution, serving as a pivotal conduit for the dissemination of Russian influence throughout the area. Concurrently, it functioned as a platform for imperial social and cultural assimilation. While by the conclusion of the imperial era, this process had not yet yielded in substantial transformations within the local society due to the limited number of educational institutions and students, it nonetheless laid the foundation for a model of educational administration that functioned as a tool of imperial influence.
 The study draws upon both published and archival documents to provide a comprehensive overview of all the elementary Russian-Turkic schools that operated within the Trans-Caspian region, encompassing relatively understudied Russian-Tatar and Russian-Persian schools as well. The article identifies a range of salient characteristics inherent to Russian-Turkic schools. It expounds upon the daily routines of these institutions, their curricula, pedagogical methods, teacher status, and related data. Through an exploration of the organization and activities of all Russian-Turkmen schools within the region, the analysis reveals that the most distinguished among them served as platforms for fostering ethno-cultural interactions and subsequently contributed to the emergence of a novel Turkmen elite.