Development of education in Uman in the late 19th and early 20th centuries on the pages of Kyiv newspapers

Abstract

Based on the systematization of publications about education found in the Kyiv newspapers: ‘Zarya’, ‘Zhizn i Iskusstvo’, ‘Kyivske Slovo’, and ‘Trud’ in the county town of Uman the article shows the role of the Town Council and the public initiative of Uman residents to expand the four-grade folk school and open a male and female gymnasium. Newspaper articles show the unequal attitude of the Uman Town Council to the needs of the school for children of poor parents and gymnasiums where children from wealthy families received secondary education. In contrast to the city authorities, the public initiative was manifested in the form of the establishment of the Society for Assistance to Needy School Students (1892) and the Society for Assistance to Needy Male Pro-Gymnasium Students (1885), which showed that wealthy citizens were aware of the importance of education for gifted children from families of different social classes.

In 1880-1900, the Kyiv newspapers ‘Zaria’, ‘Zhizn i Iskusstvo’, ‘Kyivske Slovo’, and ‘Trud’ published about fifty articles and reports about the Uman People’s School, male and female gymnasiums. The newspapers reported that the demand for education in Uman was great: the town’s poor, middle class, and wealthy residents sought to educate their children. The Uman People’s School was always overcrowded and could not accept all applicants, and the Uman Town Council did not allocate funds for its expansion. In 1892, a public initiative was taken in the form of the establishment of the Society for Assistance to Needy Students of the School, which provided financial support and drew attention of Uman residents to the problems of this educational institution. Only in 1902, with the allocation of funds by the Town Council to expand the school’s building, its problems were gradually resolved.

Secondary educational institutions in Uman, the men’s and women’s gymnasiums, were in better conditions because they had the patronage of the Town Council. Within thirteen years (1883-1896), the men’s progymnasium was transformed into a gymnasium, and the women’s gymnasium was established on the basis of a private women’s educational institution.

Spacious educational buildings were constructed for both the male and female gymnasiums, and these buildings are still in use today. Kyiv newspapers reported on all stages of the formation of the gymnasiums, described in detail all the vicissitudes regarding the petitions of Uman residents and decisions of the authorities, and clearly emphasized the predominance of the interests of the Uman Town Council in gymnasium education. However, the tone of the newspaper information indicates a sympathetic attitude toward the education of poor Uman residents’ children.