East Siberian governors' activities in public education development in the 19th - early 20th centuries

The historiography of this issue presents a wide range of publications. The authors of the Tsar Russia period considered the governorship institution in the context of the state mechanism, studying the state power system development. In most of the Soviet period research, there was an opinion about the governors' conservative activity, in particular in the national education development. Governors were blamed in the subjective approach to education development. In modern works, the system of the power is reconstructed, problems of governorship institution development in the conditions of Asiatic Russia are determined. In the process of the pre-revolutionary history reconsidering, the governors' activity in various spheres of administrative work has been estimated in a new way. The result of a new direction is the emergence of biographical, sociological and political studies of the governor corps. In general, there are still some gaps in the study of the governorship institution which require a more thorough research. The aim of this work is to study governors' activities in the field of public education in the Asian part of Russia. The involvement of governors in the sphere of national education started from the second half of the 18th century. In the context of reforms carried out by Catherine II, the process of the state general education system formation begins in the Russian Empire. The local system administration was the responsibility of the governors. The reforms of Alexander I exempted local authorities from the tutorship duty. The schools of Asian Russia were brought to the Kazan Educational District Trustee. Such governance practice was ineffective for Siberia. In 1828, Siberian schools were returned to civil governors' control. The reforms of 1864 did not affect the educational system in Asian Russia. Due to the governors' efforts, in 1867 in East Siberia, the post of the National School Chief Inspector with subordinate provincial and regional inspectorates was introduced. The established governance system was not slow to show positive results. During the period from 1867 to 1890 the number of schools increased by five times. In the second decade of the 20th century, plans for the introduction of universal primary education received state support and increased funding. Having overcome the problem of insufficient funding and staff shortage, the governors' activities in Asian Russia became more effective. Unfortunately, the revolutionary events of 1917 made adjustments to the further development of public education. Along with the governors' administrative activities in the field of public education, charity should be mentioned. For state officials charity was a legal obligation. Due to their official duties, the governors were the trustees of various regional education institutions. In the field of public education the "state" form of charity was developed. Governors not only led charitable societies, but also donated considerable sums of money to schools and needy students. Thus, the opinion about governors' conservative activities in the development of public education is false. In the existing political system governors had no opportunity to contribute to public education actively.

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