EDUCATION IN THE UKRAINIAN FOREST-STEPPE PROVINCES OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE XIX CENTURY
Authors:   Vinnytsia National Agrarian University, Ukraine, Levchuk Kostiantin 
Published: July 2022

This chapter is devoted to the formation of the education system in a number of Left Bank and Right Bank Ukrainian lands in the first half of the XIX century. The purpose of our study is to study the educational policy of tsarism towards ethnic, religious and social groups living in Ukraine. General scientific and historical research methods were used, including a systematic approach, the principles of objectivity and comprehensiveness, historical-genetic and synchronous methods. Statistical data published in official publications of the Russian Empire were the main source of information on public education. In particular, the “Military-Statistical Review of the Russian Empire analyzed in detail the social, economic, religious development of each province as in the midnineteenth century. The historiography of the problem is analyzed. It is noted that the attention of researchers is focused on the study of certain elements of public education, the level of education of social classes, national minorities, the formation and development of higher education. Study of general features of educational policy of the state in the provinces of Forest-Steppe Ukraine remains outside the scope of scientific research and its impact on the formation of the foundations of national identity of the Ukrainian people, public struggle for equal and fair nature of all levels of education. It was found out that the system of educational institutions was formed at the beginning of the XIX century. in the Russian Empire. It did not guarantee the right to free and unrestricted access to education for all social groups. The tsarist struggle against the influence of the Polish aristocracy on educational processes in the provinces of the Right Bank of Ukraine strengthened the Russification policy under reactionary-conservative slogans. Education becomes an instrument of the policy of the autocracy and is aimed at protecting the existing feudal system. It is recognized that the opportunity to receive education directly depended on the social status and place of the person in the hierarchy. The vast majority of Ukrainian serfs did not have the opportunity to teach their children at all, as their education depended on the good will of the landlords and was not regulated by the state. It is established that the development of higher education in the Forest- Steppe Ukraine during the first half of the XIX century testified to the complete dependence of the educational policy of the autocracy on the will of the autocrat. The founding of Kharkiv University took place in line with the Enlightenment traditions in 1805, spread in Europe under the influence of Napoleon’s conquests. However, universities lost their self-government, freedom of teaching and became completely dependent on state funding during the reign of Nicholas I. The university administration paid considerable attention to the supervision of students and their discipline. It is concluded that the Ukrainian intelligentsia represents the interests of the oppressed people. They focused their energy on studying the history, culture, language and customs of the people, which in turn led to the politicization of the protest and the emergence of the Ukrainian nationaleducational movement.