Hello friends,
This post is a continuation of our story about schools in Eastern Galicia. If you are interested in learning about your ancestors’ lives in this part of Ukraine or another area that was part of the Austro-Hungary once, you are at the right place.
The detailed in-depth research is not my purpose: education is such a huge topic. It’s rather an attempt to do a bit of time travel. I have also found some pictures which give me a better feeling of what things were like and I will share them with you.
The previous post was about the kindergartens. It is possible that your ancestors went to one of them but the chances are not too high. Their number was relatively small. However, they most probably went to the primary school as it became compulsory in 1866.
What were things like before 1866? Primary education was conducted by the state schools (called “trivial”) and parish schools which were part of the church. Some extracts from the auditors’ reports sent to the local authorities are quite interesting. They have to do with the villages of the present-day Ternopil oblast and date to the 1840s:
- “The parents believe that sending children to school is not a good idea because Caesar will sell all educated children to the Turkish Sultan”.
- Potutory – “The school is flourishing. 5 boys were tested by the auditor”
- Plotycha – “Both school and mortuary are located in the same building”
- Zolochivka – “Children do not go to study religion because parents do not send them”
- Tauriv – “The school is located in the home of the church clerk. Not good”
- Kryve – “The school is developing well but the church clerk (teacher) is starving as parents do not want to contribute”
- Kozivka – “A great school, 15 children agreed to be tested by the auditor”
- Shybalyn – “The school building is not finished, the children go to study in the church clerk’s home”
- Augustivka – “Very few children go to school”
- Horodyshche – “There is no school at all”
- Urman-Dryshchiv – “The church clerks state that the poor level of children is the result of the fact that the parents are unwilling to send them to school”
- Vilkhivets – “The school is not working because the priest settled in the church clerk’s house and the clerk has to rent”
The state tried to improve the situation and the 1866 reform introduced compulsory primary education for the children of 6-12 years old. It was free. The parish schools stopped operating and more teachers were sent to the villages to work in the state schools.
Since the society of that time was multinational, the local administration was to decide on the language of tuition at schools. If there was a considerable number of representatives of different nationalities (e.g. – Polish and Ukrainian) in one school, they had to learn the language of the other group as a compulsory school subject.
There were two levels of the schools: “lower” in the villages and “higher” in the towns. The village children who finished the “lower” school could not be accepted to the professional schools or gymnasiums which were the next level of education. Thus, it was a block the majority could not break through.
Depending on the school level, there could be so-called “1-7 class schools” – mostly in the towns “1-4 class schools” mostly in the villages. The numbers in these names corresponded to the number of teachers.
The curriculum of the 1-2 class school covered the following disciplines: religion, reading, writing, native language and the language of the second biggest national group, maths, singing, handicrafts (for girls), and gymnastics (for boys).
German was introduced in the 3-class school. Natural sciences, geography, and history were introduced in the schools of the higher level.
The parents were informed about the results of their children twice a year in the village schools and four times a year in the city/town schools. The main criteria were
- Behavior
- Progress
- Diligence
- The appearance of written works
Here’s another important object that was present in most schools of that time: twigs for corporal punishment. It was not uncommon at all.
Let me share the memoirs of one of the old residents who went to the school which you have seen in these pictures. His name is Panko Korol and he was born in 1897. The memoirs were recorded by the museum workers in 1979:
“The school was built with community funds by village craftsmen. They were led by Yosif Luts. And it was in the early 1880s. The school was covered with wooden shingles. (…) There was a weathervane on top of the bell tower. A hedge grew in front of the school, and flower beds were under the windows. The gymnastics field where children used to play was nearby. I went to that school from 1904 to 1910. (…) The furnace was made of rocks. The teacher’s desk stood on the elevation named “gradus”, and it is where the students were beaten for disobedience too. There were 3 steps leading to the “gradus”. The benches were long, for 8-10 students. Grades 1-2 wrote on black tablets in narrow wooden frames. A map and a portrait of Franz Joseph hung on the wall. They taught maths, Polish and Ukrainian languages, and God’s law. There was a cabinet in the classroom, where the notebooks, ink, pens, and pencils were kept. The teacher lived in the neighboring room, on the other side of the building.”
I wish Panko had told us more, of course. It is interesting to see he remembered the number of steps leading to the “gradus” where the punishments took place.
Hope you have found this small insight interesting. You’re welcome to join our Ukraine Roots Illuminated with Dorosh FB page if you like to be updated on further posts.
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Love from Ukraine.
Andriy