EDUCATION IN RUSSIA.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1222, 31 July 1885, Page 3

EDUCATION IN RUSSIA.

If Russia is not compelled to go to war, when the internal improvement will of course be indefinitely pos poned, the blissful ignorance in which the illiterate Russians opened their y ars will, with many other primitive barbarisms, be mitigated, if not removed, for the Minister of Education is bent on enforcing elementary education on as many moujiks as possible. The movement in this direction was first made some fifty years ago, but little progress was made until a few years ago, when suddenly the number of illiterates began to decrease, and the number of pupils at the public schools began to increase, so that in 1880 there were in European Russia no less than 22,770 village schools, with 36,955 teachers, and 1,140,915 pupils, of which 255,997 were girls in the 611 girls’ schools, and 1743 schools for girls and boys ; while in 1872 the number of schools was 19,169, with 703,740 pupils. Curiously enough the number of schools has generally decreased since 1883, when there were 32,968 primary schools of all denominations with 802,817 pupils of both sexes. To enanle all village children to attend school, there ought to bo at least 68,000 schools instead of 22,000 open in 1830, and these can only be maintained at a cost of L 1,900,000 per annum. As Central Asia costs a million a year, with the prospect of costing many millions more, this expenditure is impossible. The “ Russian Gazette,” which publishes the above statistics, gives also some interesting details of tho illiterate rate among recruits in ihe several European armies. There are in the Danish army 0.36 per cent of soldie s who can neither read nor write ; next follows Sweeden with 1.90 per cent; Germany with 2 37 ; Switzerland with 4.00 ; the Netherlands with 12 82 ; Franca with 19 89 ; Belgium with 17.48 ; Austria with 38.90 ; Italy 47 71 ; and Hungary with 50.80 ; while Russia in 1878 headed the (list with 77.8 per cent. The percentage of literacy is nearly as high in the Baltic provinces as in Germany.