home Botany After Stalin's college to the university. Paid and free education. The formation of the Soviet education system

After Stalin's college to the university. Paid and free education. The formation of the Soviet education system

On October 26, 1940, Decree No. 638 "On the establishment of tuition fees in senior classes of secondary schools and in higher educational institutions of the USSR and on changing the procedure for awarding scholarships" was introduced. Paid education was introduced in high schools and universities with a fixed amount of annual payment. Education in the capital's schools cost 200 rubles a year; in the provincial - 150, and for studying at the institute already had to lay out 400 rubles in Moscow, Leningrad and the capitals of the Union republics, and 300 - in other cities.

The annual payment roughly corresponded to the average monthly nominal salary of Soviet workers at that time: in 1940 it was 338 rubles per month.

However, the introduction of even such a modest fee for many Soviet citizens closed the opportunity to continue their education after the 7th grade. And then the collective farmers did not receive wages at all and worked on the collective farm for workdays.

As a result of the "reforms" carried out, the number of graduates of secondary schools (grades 8-10), secondary specialized educational institutions and universities has halved. The Soviet government deliberately sought to limit the number of people with secondary, secondary specialized and higher education. The country needed people at the machine. And this was achieved by measures of an economic nature: tuition fees were set.

In fact, Stalin at that time began the formation of a new estate. The same peasants could not "get out into the people" even through studying at a technical school, and the workers - through a university. Recall that in the families of that time, the norm was 5-7 children for peasants and 3-4 for workers. And paying for the education of 2-3 children was an unbearable burden for them.

At the same time, at the end of 1940, the regulation “On the State Labor Reserves of the USSR” appeared. The Council of People's Commissars received the right to annually call up from 800,000 to 1 million urban and collective farm youth, starting at the age of 14, to schools and factory training schools (FZO). Graduates received referrals to enterprises where they were required to work for 4 years. And later, a decree appeared on criminal liability for up to 1 year "for unauthorized leaving or for a systematic and gross violation of school discipline, resulting in exclusion" from the school (school). In fact, the state attached students to the FZO.

The only social ladder for the lower classes then became military schools - education in them was free. Or after serving in the army - work in the NKVD.

But even under Khrushchev, school education actually had to be paid. On December 24, 1958, the law "On Strengthening the Link between School and Life" was adopted, introducing a compulsory eight-year education. But at the same time, students in grades 9-10 had to work 2 days a week in production or in agriculture - everything they produced during these 2 days of work at a factory or in the field went to pay for school education. For admission to a university, work experience of at least two years after graduation was now required. This " school reform"was canceled immediately after the removal of Khrushchev, and finally modern look school education was accepted only under Brezhnev, in 1966.

Periodically, heated debates flare up on the topic of whether education in the USSR was paid or it was still free. Some, referring to Government Decrees, argue that they paid for education, while others, with the same persistence referring to the texts of the Constitutions and other Government Decrees, argue that this is all nonsense and intrigues of enemies. Well, let's try to deal with this issue.

After the revolutionary seizure of power, the Bolsheviks were among the new bodies government controlled create the Commissariat for Education, headed by A. V. Lunacharsky, already in his first statement as head of the People's Commissariat of Education emphasized:

Any truly democratic power in the field of education in a country where illiteracy and ignorance reigns must set as its first goal the struggle against this darkness. It must achieve in the shortest possible time universal literacy by organizing a network of schools that meet the requirements of modern pedagogy, and introduction of universal compulsory and free education, and at the same time, the establishment of a number of teacher's institutes and seminaries that would provide as soon as possible a mighty army of folk educators, which is needed for the general education of the population of vast Russia.

This message is legally enshrined in the first Constitution of the RSFSR of 1918. (We will not consider the Constitution of the USSR of 1924, because it was of an organizational nature and did not contain articles relating to the rights and freedoms of citizens), where Article 17 proclaims:

In order to ensure that the working people have real access to knowledge, the RSFSR sets itself the task of to give the workers and the poorest peasants complete, comprehensive and free education.

However, almost immediately the proclaimed principle of free educational services faces the problem of its practical implementation, becoming more and more declarative. The civil war, with the devastation and impoverishment of both the masses of the people and the state, which, moreover, was still extremely weak economically, made these efforts futile. The abundance of legal acts fixing the gratuitousness of education ( even strictly prohibiting the Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of October 27, 1921 "On the Prohibition of Compulsory Collection of Fees in All Soviet Educational Institutions", where the refusal of a student or his parent to study or be admitted to an educational institution for non-participation in voluntary contributions was considered a crime by position, for which the perpetrators from the educational administration and teaching staff were held liable by the verdict of the people's court) could not change the situation. In educational and educational institutions continued to collect fees, because. educational institutions had to function somehow, and teachers / teachers / educators had to live on something (sometimes the payment was accepted even in in kind- products). Then a compromise solution was found - to announce that the collection of fees is, firstly, as if voluntary, and secondly, temporary. And so our first People's Commissar of Education, explaining the situation, was forced to say that:

The introduction of payment means that the state is temporarily unable to fully and completely assume the costs of public education, and forced to partially impose benefits on the population, providing broad benefits to workers and shifting a great burden on the shoulders of wealthy and well-to-do parents.

Those. for the education of the urban and rural poor, the "lousy intelligentsia" that did not die out during the revolutionary changes, the wealthy peasants who were not yet completely dispossessed, as well as all those who belonged to the "socially alien" revolution "elements" paid for the education.

However, to boost the economy (beginning of industrialization) The state was in dire need of qualified workers. To solve this problem, numerous initial courses have been created. vocational education, where adults without a working profession were trained, as well as thousands of homeless children. These courses not only made it possible to obtain a working specialty, but were also not overhead: adults, in the event of separation from production, kept their salaries, and stipends were paid to teenagers. The instruction, developed in accordance with the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of July 29, 1920, "On educational vocational conscription" established that the size of student scholarships for adolescent students should correspond to the sixth category of the third group of industrial enterprises of the general tariff grid.

I must say that in all the years of the USSR, the state treated the initial vocational education, one might say, with trepidation. Details of the legislative acts in this educational direction can be found here: Training of workers in the USSR. Part 1, Training of workers in the USSR. Part 2, Training of workers in the USSR. Part 3, which contains a very detailed chronological selection of documents on this topic (some documents will be used in the article).

Since 1922, scholarships began to be received by students of other educational institutions. Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR dated May 26, 1922 "On State and Private Scholarships for Students" established the receipt by students of higher educational institutions and practical institutes of state and private scholarships. The number of state scholarships was annually determined by a special resolution of the Council of People's Commissars. (I must say that in relation to the total number of students, their number was not large). The scholarships included: food and clothing supply; hostels; cash disbursements. The amount of state and private scholarships was determined no lower than the average wage of a worker in a given area. In this way, state institutions, factory enterprises, public, cooperative, professional and party organizations, as well as private enterprises and individuals ( all those who belonged to the private founders of scholarships) received the right to establish and pay scholarships to students of those educational institutions where they were seconded.

In 1923, the provision on temporary voluntary collection of fees was enshrined in law. Legal act The Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of March 22, 1923 "On the Procedure for Collecting Tuition Fees in the Institutions of the People's Commissariat of Education" was the first to approve the remuneration of educational services.

Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of March 22, 1923 "On the procedure for collecting tuition fees in institutions of the People's Commissariat of Education"

In development of the Decree of the X All-Russian Congress of Soviets, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars decide:

1. Provincial executive committees are temporarily allowed to introduce tuition fees in educational institutions in cities and urban-type settlements on the following grounds.

2. Tuition fees are allowed in schools of the 1st and 2nd levels, in technical schools, practical institutes and higher educational institutions.

Note. Tuition fees may not be collected in schools for working adolescents, in all professional lower schools and educational demonstration workshops, in pedagogical educational institutions, with the exception of those that will be indicated in the special instructions of the People's Commissariat of Education (Article 11), as well as in all others educational institutions not provided for by these Regulations ( preschool institutions, Soviet party schools, etc.). The rules for levying tuition fees at higher educational institutions and practical institutes are established by the aforementioned instruction of the People's Commissariat of Education (Article 11).

3. Hired workers and employees who have the right to be members of trade unions, with the exceptions specified in Art. 4, pay a fee for the education of their children in an amount not exceeding 5% of their tariff rate, regardless of the number of children studying.

4. The following are exempted from paying for the education of children:

a) Red Army soldiers, naval sailors, commanders, commissars and political staff of the army and navy;

b) invalids of labor and war;

c) peasants subject to legal exemption from payment of tax in kind;

d) student scholarship holders;

e) state pensioners;

f) workers of education employed in the institutions of the People's Commissariat for Education, with the exception of clerical and administrative staff;

g) the unemployed, registered at the labor exchange, entitled to social insurance benefits;

h) workers and employees whose wage rate is below the quadruple state minimum wage.

Note. Orphans who remain after the death of the persons listed in Art. Art. 3 and 4 categories.

5. At least 25% of free places are established in each school.

6. Separation of persons who do not belong to any of the categories specified in Art. Art. 3 and 4, into groups depending on their property status and the establishment of the amount of tuition fees for persons belonging to each of these groups is carried out by the provincial executive committees, in accordance with the instructions of the People's Commissariat of Education.

7. Workers and employees receiving maintenance, although higher than the quadruple state wage minimum (clause "h", art. 4), but burdened with a family, as well as insolvent parents who do not fit into any of those listed in art. Art. 3 and 4 categories, may be exempted from tuition fees for children in whole or in part in the manner prescribed by Art. eight.

8. Exemption from tuition fees and the provision, if necessary, benefits for its payment, is carried out by a special commission consisting of: a representative from the local department public education, one representative from the local alliance and one from the school's school board. The chairman of the commission is a representative of the department of public education. In urban-type settlements where there is no department of public education, the chairman of the commission is one of the members of the executive committee.

9. The fee is withdrawn by the head of the school or a specially appointed person for quarters of the year in advance.

Note. For workers and employees, a monthly fee payment is established.

10. The amounts received from tuition fees are credited to the special funds of this school, in accordance with the Resolution of the Council of People's Commissars of March 6, 1923 (Sobr. Uzak., 1923, No. 18, Art. 231).

11. The People's Commissariat of Education is entrusted with issuing instructions for the application of this Regulation.

Chairman
All-Russian Central
Executive Committee
M.KALININ

Vice-chairman
Council of People's Commissars
A.TSURUPA

Secretary
All-Russian Central
Executive Committee
T.SAPRONOV

The decree officially allowed the provincial executive committees to introduce tuition fees in educational institutions in cities and urban-type settlements, albeit with the proviso that it is temporary; tuition fee allowed in schools of I and II levels, in technical schools, practical institutes and higher educational institutions. At the same time, categories of persons who have payment benefits and are exempted from paying for educational services, as well as the number of places in schools for which these persons can apply ( according to the decree in schools, 75% of places were supposed to be paid).

However, in the middle of 1924, at a meeting of the Politburo of the RCP (b) (1924), the issue "On paying in universities" was considered, and it was decided that from the 1924/1925 academic year, all students would pay for education in universities.

a) Set as general rule that all students pay for tuition at universities ...

b) Each student sent to universities pays either for himself (if there is sufficient earnings), or the organization that sent him pays for him, or a combined payment system can be practiced: part - the student himself, part - the organization that sent him.

C) The indicated ... procedure should begin to be applied to a new admission in the 1924-1925 academic year, so that from the new academic year it will be extended to the entire mass of students.

D) Set the tuition fee in the following amounts:

For persons whose salary does not exceed 100 rubles. per month, as well as persons dependent on parents whose salary does not exceed 100 rubles. per month - 50 rubles. in year; from 100 to 200 rubles. per month - 75 rubles. in year

and from 200 to 300 - 100 rubles. in year;

Grant the right to local commissions to establish for persons using unearned income, a fee of up to 300 rubles. in year.

E) With regard to students already in universities, adopt the following procedure:
The following categories of students are exempt from the fee:

a) graduated from the workers' faculty,

b) state scholarship holders,

c) war invalids who are dependent on social security,

d) children of professors and teachers of universities and workers' schools, if they are dependent on their parents.

As can be seen, the amount of tuition fees was set depending on the financial situation of the student, and was higher for persons with unearned income, while a strictly limited category of persons was exempted from payment.

At the end of 1924, the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of 11/06/1924 "On State Scholarships for Students of Higher Educational Institutions and Workers' Faculties" was adopted, which determines that from now on all scholarships issued to students by both the People's Commissariat of Education and other people's commissariats are considered state. It should be noted that this resolution speaks of receiving scholarships only for a certain category of students - business travelers ( directed) from organizations/enterprises or dependents (content) states, students who did not have benefits or referrals from organizations / enterprises did not receive scholarships.

In total in the USSR, thus, 128 (according to the data of the Glavprofobr) universities and 157,595 students (in 1927-1928) against 91 universities and 124,652 students in 1914/15 ... Members and candidates of the CPSU (b) among students - 17.1%, members of the Komsomol - 20.1%. By sex - 70.5% men, 29.5% women; the number of students receiving scholarships (in the RSFSR) -50 thousand.

The number of students at 110,000 must be recognized as exaggerated, exceeding the actual needs of the country. The Glavprofobr seeks to further reduce this figure, but the ode has also been achieved by, on the one hand, an extreme reduction in enrollment this year - 8,000 worker students plus 5,500 others, and on the other hand, such a painful purge of the students, which excluded up to 25,000 people from its number, unsuitable mainly for their academic failure.

Although the People's Commissar of Education himself spoke out against the class approach to the recruitment of student youth:

In the future, the replenishment of higher educational institutions will have to follow new paths. Reception specifically on the recommendations of the party, Komsomol and trade unions does not meet our expectations. Partly not entirely acceptable elements are recommended, and, in addition, the very reservoir of workers, graduate students in universities and technical colleges, is apparently drying up.

However, in 1925 another 40,000 students were expelled, while the norms of those expelled were planned in advance - an average of 20 - 30% of the total number of students. In general, the principle of a class approach, both to the recruitment of students and to their expulsion, remained the main one until the early 1930s ( especially with regard to workers' schools).

Memo to the Regional and Provincial Committees of the RCP (b) on Admission to V.U.Z. 1928

Establish that tuition fees in evening educational institutions (evening institutes, evening departments of institutes, evening technical schools and other evening special secondary educational institutions), as well as in grades 8-10 of adult secondary schools, are charged at half the tuition fee established for relevant educational institutions by the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of October 2, 1940 No. 1860 "On the establishment of tuition fees in senior classes of secondary schools and in higher educational institutions of the USSR and on changing the procedure for awarding scholarships" (S. P. USSR 1940 No. 27, Art. 637).

Chairman of the People's Council

Commissars of the USSR

V. Molotov.

Council Manager

People's Commissars of the USSR

M. Khlomov.

Immediately in the regions there is a "popular approval" of the government's decision:

Pay attention to:

Some students who left school go to practical work, most of them have applied to be sent to study at vocational schools and factory training schools.

Indeed, at the same time - on October 2, 1940, the Decree "On the State Labor Reserves of the USSR" was issued.

The task of further expanding our industry requires a constant influx of new labor into mines, mines, transport, factories and plants. Without continuous replenishment of the composition of the working class, the successful development of our industry is impossible.

Unemployment has been completely abolished in our country, poverty and ruin in the countryside and in the city have been eradicated forever, in view of this we do not have people who would be forced to knock and ask for factories and plants, thus spontaneously forming a permanent reserve of labor for industry .

Under these conditions, the state is faced with the task of organizing the training of new workers from urban and collective farm youth and creating the necessary labor reserves for industry.

In order to create state labor reserves for industry, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR decides:

1. Recognize it necessary to annually prepare for transfer to industry state labor reserves in the amount of 800 thousand to 1 million people by teaching urban and collective farm youth certain production professions in vocational schools, railway schools and in schools for factory training.

2. For the training of skilled metalworkers, metallurgists, chemists, miners, oil workers and workers of other complex professions, as well as skilled workers for maritime transport, river transport and communications enterprises, to organize Trade Schools in the cities with a two-year training period.

3. For the training of qualified railway transport workers - assistant drivers, locksmiths for the repair of locomotives and wagons, boilermakers, foremen for the repair of the track and other workers of complex professions - to organize Railway Schools with a two-year training period.

4. For the training of workers in mass professions, primarily for the coal industry, mining industry, metallurgical industry, oil industry and for the construction business, to organize Factory Training Schools with a six-month training period.

5. Establish that education in Trade Schools, Railway Schools and Factory Training Schools is free of charge and students during the period of study are dependent on the state.

6. Establish that the state labor reserves are at the direct disposal of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and cannot be used by people's commissariats and enterprises without the permission of the Government.

7. Grant the right to the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR annually to call (mobilize) from 800 thousand to 1 million urban and collective farm youth males aged 14-15 years old to study at Craft and Railway Schools at the age of 16-17 years old to study at Factory schools - Factory training.

8. To oblige the chairmen of collective farms to allocate annually, in the order of conscription (mobilization), 2 young males aged 14-15 years old to Craft and Railway Schools and 16-17 years old to schools of factory training for every 100 members of collective farms, counting men and women aged 14 to 55 years.

9. To oblige the city Soviets of Working People's Deputies to allocate annually, by way of conscription (mobilization), male youth aged 14-15 years old to Craft and Railway Schools and 16-17 years old to Factory Training Schools in the amount annually established by the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.

10. Establish that all graduates of vocational schools, railway schools and factory training schools are considered mobilized and are required to work for 4 years in a row at state enterprises, as directed by the Main Directorate of Labor Reserves under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, with the provision of wages for them at the place of work at general grounds.

11. Establish that all persons who have graduated from Trade Schools, Railway Schools and Schools of Factory Training enjoy deferrals for conscription into the Red Army and Military - Navy for the time before the expiration of the period required for work in state enterprises, in accordance with Article 10 of this Decree.

Chairman of the Presidium

Supreme Soviet of the USSR

M.KALININ

Secretary of the Presidium

Supreme Soviet of the USSR

By this Decree, the Council of People's Commissars received the right to annually call up from 800 thousand to 1 million people of urban and collective farm youth, starting at the age of 14, to schools and factory training schools (FZO), while:

Training in Trade Schools, Railway Schools and Factory Training Schools is free of charge and students during the period of study are dependent on the state.

By introducing tuition fees in senior classes of secondary schools and in higher educational institutions, the state solved three main tasks at once. First, the transfer of part of the cost of education to the population made it possible to cover the budget deficit, which had increased significantly since the mid-1930s, when tuition fees were effectively abolished. At the same time, the assertion that the level of material well-being of workers somehow strongly increased - was a big fool. According to the collection Budgets of workers, collective farmers, engineering and technical workers and employees(page 39) the average cash income of a family of workers as a whole for all surveyed industries of the USSR in 1940 was about 605 rubles per month, but this is the average, while incomes varied greatly by industry, while families usually had more than 1 child, so the cost of education were not so small. It is generally difficult to take into account the cash income of collective farmers, because. their work was paid for by workdays, which were credited with natural products, while for training it was necessary to pay state money signs, and not workdays.

Secondly, in this way the state regulated the number of specialists with higher education necessary for the country, remember, back in 1924, Lunacharsky said that the number of students exceeded the necessary needs - the twenties and thirties gave the economy a sufficient number of specialists with higher education to carry out the accelerated pace of industrialization, who have already transgressed or were about to transgress professional activity However, the post-revolutionary younger generation continued to want to be educated, especially since the need for this was spoken at every step, but on the eve of the war, the state needed more professional workers.

Thirdly, by introducing tuition fees in the upper grades of secondary and higher schools ( as a result of which some of the students switched to study at various courses, the other - to the correspondence department, the rest - were engaged in employment) while making it free ( with state scholarships) vocational education, the state solved the problem of replenishing workers on the ground (plants / factories). And so that the children do not count working education something not serious or not mandatory. The Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Armed Forces of December 28, 1940 "On the responsibility of students of trade, railway schools and schools of the FZO for violation of discipline and for unauthorized departure from the school (school)" determined that for systematic and gross violation of school discipline, resulting in expulsion from the school (school) offenders subject to a court sentence to imprisonment in labor colonies for up to one year.

Nevertheless, there were still certain categories of citizens who were exempted from paying tuition fees, as well as some educational institutions where free education was maintained.

The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR decides:

Chairman of the People's Council

Commissars of the USSR

V. Molotov.

Council Manager

People's Commissars of the USSR

M. Khlomov.

The Council of People's Commissars of the USSR decides:

1. Save in national studios at the Moscow State Conservatory, Moscow and Leningrad theater institutes free education and the previously existing procedure for providing students with scholarships.

Chairman of the People's Council

Commissars of the USSR

V. Molotov.

Council Manager

People's Commissars of the USSR

M. Khlomov.

Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of October 28, 1940 N 2180 "On the preservation in flight and technical schools and universities of the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR free education, subsidies for food and uniforms and the previous procedure for assigning scholarships to students" (SP USSR, 1940, No. 29, item 699).

Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of December 7, 1940 N 2452 "On exemption from tuition fees for disabled pensioners and their children and pupils of orphanages" (SP USSR, 1940, N 31, art. 785).

Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of January 11, 1941 N 70 "On the preservation of free education and the former procedure for awarding scholarships to students of the Moscow aerial photography school."

Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of June 12, 1941 N 1539 "On the preservation of free education and the previous procedure for awarding scholarships to students of pedagogical schools located in the regions of the Far North."

Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of July 2, 1941 N 1803 "On exemption from tuition fees for children of private and junior commanding staff Red Army and Navy "(SP USSR, 1941, N 16, p. 311)

During the years of the Great Patriotic War the abolition of tuition fees and the provision of scholarships took place mainly either on a national basis or on the basis of low income.

Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated January 5, 1943 N 5 "On the exemption in the Kazakh SSR of students of Kazakhs, Uighurs, Uzbeks and Tatars from tuition fees in grades 8-10 of secondary schools, in secondary specialized and higher educational institutions and providing students with scholarships."

Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of February 27, 1943 N 212 "On the exemption in the Uzbek SSR of students of Uzbeks, Karakalpaks, Tajiks, Kirghiz, Kazakhs and local Jews from tuition fees in grades 8-10 of secondary schools, technical schools and higher educational institutions and providing student scholarships

Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of February 27, 1943 N 213 "On the exemption in the Azerbaijan SSR of Azerbaijani and Armenian students from tuition fees in grades 8-10 of secondary schools, technical schools and higher educational institutions and providing students with scholarships."

Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of March 19, 1943 N 302 "On the exemption in the Turkmen SSR of students of Turkmens, Uzbeks and Kazakhs from tuition fees in grades 8-10 of secondary schools, technical schools and higher educational institutions and providing students with scholarships."

Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated May 15, 1943 N 528 "On the exemption from tuition fees and the provision of scholarships for students of the Kabardino-Balkarian Pedagogical Institute."

By the end of the war, the list of categories of citizens exempted from paying tuition fees was somewhat expanded, demobilized military personnel, children of soldiers who died on the fronts, children of disabled people of groups I and II, students with disabilities and children of teachers fell into the preferential category. At the same time, local regional councils of deputies could make decisions on exemption from student tuition fees. correspondence departments certain specialties.

In 1947, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopted a new version of Art. 121 of the Constitution of the USSR, which guaranteed free seven-year education, and introduced a system of state scholarships for distinguished students of higher education. The country, recovering from the war, needed funds, so tuition fees in high schools and universities continued to be collected.

The abolition of tuition fees was made possible by the growth of the country's gross income, at the same time this decision was not only economic, but also political in nature: " in order to create the most favorable conditions for the implementation of universal secondary education in the country and for young people to receive higher education".

A year earlier, on March 18, 1955, the Decree of the USSR Armed Forces “On the abolition of the conscription (mobilization) of young people to vocational and railway schools” was issued, which left in the past the voluntary-compulsory mobilization of youth in vocational schools and factory schools, later transformed into a single network of vocational schools .

However, in exchange for the abolition of tuition fees and forced mobilization, the state decides to accustom young people to work from the school bench, as early as early 1956, at the XX Congress of the CPSU, N. Khrushchev stated:

“It is necessary not only to introduce in schools the teaching of new subjects that provide the foundations of knowledge on issues of technology and production, but also to systematically involve students in work at enterprises, on collective farms and state farms, on experimental plots and in school workshops.”

On December 24, 1958, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR adopts the Law "On Strengthening the Connection between School and Life and on the Further Development of the System of Public Education in the USSR", which marked the beginning of the reform of the school, which continued until the mid-1960s.

The main goal of the reform is the training of technically literate personnel for industry and agriculture. Instead of 7-years, universal compulsory 8-years education is introduced, the transition to which is carried out by 1963. Complete secondary education is increased from 10 to 11 years due to the increase in working hours. AT educational plans secondary schools are being introduced: in grades 1-4 - labor, in grades 5-7 - practical classes in workshops and experimental training areas, in grades 9-11 - workshops on mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and agriculture.

complete secondary education of young people, starting from the age of 15-16, is carried out on the basis of combining education with productive labor so that all young people at this age are included in socially useful work ...

It is necessary to improve and expand evening and correspondence education in every possible way by strengthening correspondence and evening universities, developing a network of evening and correspondence education on the basis of stationary universities, organizing evening and correspondence training of specialists directly at large industrial and agricultural enterprises.

It was said in the document. In general, this can be called a veiled tuition fee.

In practice, the slogan of linking the school with life was poorly implemented. The mass transition of schools to industrial training did not take place due to the poor development of the material and technical base of educational institutions. Only a small part of the graduates went to work in the specialty received at school. At the same time, the level of general education of students has significantly decreased.

At the beginning of 1964, the Commission on Public Education of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR adopted the Decree "On the state of industrial training in the secondary school of the RSFSR", according to which schools were to return to a 10-year term of study, and compulsory professional training students of general education schools is abolished from 3 to 2 years. In August 1964, these provisions were consolidated by the Decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR "On changing the term of study in secondary general education labor polytechnic schools with industrial training", which notes:

To oblige the Central Committee of the Communist Parties and the Councils of Ministers of the Union Republics to take measures for the proper organization of industrial training for students in the upper grades of secondary schools and to ensure the strengthening and further development material base for their industrial training at enterprises, state farms and collective farms.

By 1966, secondary schools returned to a 10-year term of study, however, although the hours of industrial training for students of senior secondary schools were reduced , schoolchildren continued to take part in socially useful work, going to the aid of their "bosses" ( I think many people remember the spring weeding of the fields and the autumn harvest in the nearby farms, in other words, in each locality, socially useful labor had its own expression).

Citizens of the USSR have the right to education.

This right is ensured by the free of charge of all types of education, the implementation of universal compulsory secondary education for young people, the broad development of vocational, secondary specialized and higher education based on the connection of learning with life, with production: the development of correspondence and evening education; provision of state scholarships and benefits to pupils and students; free distribution of school textbooks; schooling opportunities for mother tongue; creating conditions for self-education.

60 years ago, on June 6, 1956, by a decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of June 6, 1956, tuition fees in senior classes of secondary schools, in secondary specialized and higher educational institutions of the USSR were abolished.

Contrary to popular belief that education in the USSR was free, this was not always the case. On October 26, 1940, Decree No. 638 "On the establishment of tuition fees in senior classes of secondary schools and in higher educational institutions of the USSR and on changing the procedure for awarding scholarships" was introduced. Paid education with a fixed annual fee was introduced in high schools and universities. Education in the capital's schools cost 200 rubles a year; in the provincial - 150, and for training at the institute already had to pay 400 rubles in Moscow, Leningrad and the capitals of the Union republics, and 300 - in other cities.

The amount of tuition fees at school and university was not high, the annual fee approximately corresponded to or was less than the average monthly nominal salary of Soviet workers. The average salary of a worker in 1940 was about 350 rubles. At the same time, the level of mandatory monthly expenses (rent, medicine, etc.) was lower than, for example, at present. By the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of June 6, 1956, tuition fees in senior classes of secondary schools, in secondary specialized and higher educational institutions of the USSR were canceled.

The formation of the Soviet education system

The Soviet government gave the education of the population a huge, actually leading role. Vladimir Lenin saw in socialist revolution the possibility of quickly overcoming the economic and cultural backwardness of the country. cultural revolution included a wide range of tasks of socialist construction in the field of culture. The school was assigned a special role as an educational institution and an instrument of communist education. It was not for nothing that Lenin declared at the congress of workers of education: “Only the school can consolidate the victory of the revolution. The upbringing of future generations consolidates everything that has been won by the revolution. “The fate of the Russian revolution directly depends on how soon the mass of teachers will take the side Soviet power". Thus, the Bolsheviks quite correctly and accurately defined the role of the school in the Soviet project. Only masses of educated and technically literate people could build a socialist state.

Prominent figures of the RCP (b) were placed at the head of the school affairs: N. K. Krupskaya, A. V. Lunacharsky, M. N. Pokrovsky. A. V. Lunacharsky headed the People's Commissariat of Education (Narkompros) until 1929. It should be noted that the first stage of the existence of the Soviet education system was associated with the destruction of the old education system and the elimination of illiteracy of the population. The former structures of school management were destroyed, private educational institutions, spiritual educational institutions, the teaching of ancient languages and religion was prohibited, the universal and domestic ones were withdrawn from the program. A “purge” was carried out to screen out unreliable teachers.

It is worth noting that at this time the so-called. Trotsky-internationalists are very "frolic", destroying Russian culture, education and history. It was believed that everything that was under tsarism was outdated and reactionary. Therefore, along with such positive phenomena as the elimination of illiteracy, private education and the influence of the church on schools, there were many negative ones. In particular, they refused to teach history, all the tsars, generals, etc., fell into negative figures, removed Russian classics from the programs, and many others. other. It is not for nothing that in the 1930s (during the period of Stalinism) much that was positive in the field of education in Russian Empire restored, including separate education for boys and girls.

It is also worth remembering that the First World War and the Civil War caused great damage to the public education system and the spread of literacy. The national economy was in ruins. Due to the lack of funds, many schools were closed, and the number of students decreased. The remaining schools were in disrepair, there was not enough paper, textbooks, and ink for the students. Teachers who had not been paid for years were leaving schools. Full funding for the education system was restored only by 1924, after which spending on education grew steadily. So, in 1925-1930. spending on public education amounted to 12-13% of the budget.

Ways of formation new school were defined in the documents adopted in October 1918: "Regulations on the unified labor school" and "Basic principles of the unified labor school (Declaration). The Soviet school was created as a unified system of joint and free general education with two stages: the first - 5 years of study, the second - 4 years of study. The right of all citizens to education, regardless of nationality, equality in the education of men and women, the unconditionality of secular education (the school was separated from the church) were proclaimed. In addition, educational institutions were entrusted with educational and production functions (in the modern Russian Federation, these functions are practically destroyed).

Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR of August 2, 1918 "On the rules for admission to higher educational institutions of the RSFSR" proclaimed that every person who has reached the age of 16, regardless of citizenship and nationality, gender and religion, was admitted to universities without exams, it was not required to provide a document on secondary education. The advantage in enrollment was given to workers and peasants, that is, the main social groups countries.

The fight against illiteracy was proclaimed as a top priority. On December 26, 1919, the Council of People's Commissars adopted a decree "On the elimination of illiteracy among the population of the RSFSR", according to which the entire population from 8 to 50 years old was obliged to learn to read and write in their native or Russian language. The decree provided for the reduction of the working day by 2 hours for students with the preservation of wages, the mobilization of the literate population in the order of labor service, the organization of registration of the illiterate, the provision of premises for classes of educational programs. However, in the years civil war this work was not fully developed. In 1920, the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for the Elimination of Illiteracy (existed until 1930) under the People's Commissariat of Education of the RSFSR was established. In 1923, the mass society “Down with illiteracy” was created under the chairmanship of M. I. Kalinin, a plan was adopted to eliminate the illiteracy of people from 18 to 35 years old in the RSFSR by the 10th anniversary of Soviet power. The Komsomol and trade unions joined the fight against illiteracy. However, this plan was also not fully implemented. There were not enough personnel, material resources, etc. It was necessary, first of all, to strengthen the main link in education - the school, in order to cover all children. Thus, the problem of illiteracy was solved in a natural way.

In the second half of the 1920s, education emerged from the crisis. The country is recovering after two wars and economic devastation, regular funding for education begins. Thus, in the 1927-1928 academic year, the number of educational institutions increased by 10% compared with 1913, and the number of students by 43%. In the 1922-1923 academic year, there were about 61.6 thousand schools in the country, in the 1928-1929 academic year their number reached 85.3 thousand. During the same period, the number of seven-year schools increased by 5.3 times, and the number of students in them doubled.

AT high school the new authorities tried to win over the cadres of the old, pre-revolutionary intelligentsia, and not without success, and to create new cadres from representatives of the working class and the peasantry. However, most of those accepted could not study at universities, since they did not even have a secondary education. To solve this problem, workers' faculties were established, created since 1919 throughout Soviet Russia. In the end recovery period graduates of workers' schools accounted for half of the students admitted to universities. To create a layer of a new Soviet intelligentsia, spread the ideas of Marxism and restructure teaching social sciences an extensive network of scientific and educational institutions: Socialist Academy (since 1924 - Communist), Communist University. Ya. M., Institute of K. Marx and F. Engels, Commission on History October revolution and RCP(b) (Istpart), Institute of Red Professors, Communist Universities of the Working People of the East and National Minorities of the West.

As a result, the system of higher education took shape in its main features by 1927. Higher education institutions were tasked with professionally training specialist organizers. The number of precocious universities that opened immediately after the revolution was reduced, student enrollment was significantly reduced, and entry exams. The lack of funds and qualified teachers held back the expansion of the system of higher and secondary special education. By 1927, the network of higher educational institutions and technical schools of the RSFSR consisted of 90 universities with 114.2 thousand students and 672 technical schools with 123.2 thousand students.

In the 1930s, the second stage in the creation of the Soviet education system began. In 1930, the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks “On universal compulsory primary education” was adopted. Universal compulsory primary education was introduced from the 1930-1931 academic year for children 8-10 years old in the amount of 4 classes; for teenagers who have not passed primary education, - in the volume of accelerated 1-2-year courses. For children who received elementary education(graduated from school of the 1st stage), in industrial cities, factory districts and workers' settlements, compulsory education was established at a seven-year school. School expenses in 1929-1930 increased more than 10 times compared to 1925-1926 academic year and continued to grow in subsequent years. This made it possible during the years of the first and second five-year plans to expand the construction of new schools: during this period, about 40,000 schools were opened. The training of teachers has been expanded. Teachers and other school workers received a promotion wages, which began to depend on education and work experience. As a result, by the end of 1932, almost 98% of children aged 8 to 11 were enrolled in studies, which solved the problem of illiteracy. Work continued on the elimination of illiteracy, which already gave better results.

In the early 1930s, the content and methods of teaching at school changed. School curricula were revised, new stable textbooks were created, teaching of general and national history. The main form of organization educational process became a lesson, introduced a strict schedule of classes, internal rules. A stable school system with successive stages has developed. A new generation of teachers, talented and conscientious, who love children and their profession, has come to schools. It was these teachers who created the famous Soviet school, the best in the world and which is still a source of innovation for the most effective school systems West and East.

At the same time, a system of engineering, agricultural and pedagogical educational institutions was created, which allowed the Union to become a "superpower", which for several decades successfully resisted the entire Western civilization.

In 1932-1933. traditional, time-tested teaching methods were restored, specialization in universities was expanded. In 1934 were installed degrees candidate and doctor of sciences and academic titles assistant, associate professor and professor. That is, under Stalin, in fact, classical education was restored. Correspondence and evening education has been created in universities and technical schools. At large enterprises, educational complexes became widespread, including technical colleges, technical schools, schools, and advanced training courses. Total number institutions of higher education in the RSFSR in 1940 amounted to 481.

In the 1930s, the composition of the student body changed radically, which was facilitated by various training courses for young workers and peasants in universities, workers' schools, and recruitment of thousands of party members during the first five-year plans. The number of intelligentsia grew very rapidly, by the end of the 30s, the new replenishment of this layer amounted to 80-90% of the total number of intelligentsia. It was already the socialist intelligentsia. Thus, the Soviet government created a third social support for itself - the socialist intelligentsia, largely technical. It was the basis and powerful support of the socialist, industrial state, the Red Empire. And the years of the terrible Great Patriotic War confirmed the advanced value Soviet school, its effectiveness when soviet soldiers, commanders, workers, scientists and engineers brought up and educated in new system, defeated the most efficient capitalist system- Third Reich.

It must be said that our enemies perfectly understood the danger of the Soviet school. For example, during the war years, only on the territory of the RSFSR, the Nazis destroyed about 20 thousand school buildings, a total of 82 thousand in the country. In the Moscow region, by the summer of 1943, 91.8% of school buildings were actually destroyed or dilapidated, in the Leningrad region - 83 .2%.

However, even during the most difficult war Soviet government tried to improve the education system. During the war years, government decisions were made to school education: on the education of children from the age of seven (1943), on the establishment of general education schools for working youth (1943), on the opening of evening schools in rural areas (1944), on the introduction of a five-point system for assessing the progress and behavior of students (1944), on the establishment of final exams for graduation from elementary, seven-year and high school (1944), about awarding gold and silver medals distinguished secondary school students (1944), etc. In 1943, the Academy was established pedagogical sciences RSFSR.

Since 1943, the restoration of the higher education system began. Thus, in the conditions of war since 1941 admission to universities was reduced by 41%, compared with peacetime; the number of universities decreased from 817 to 460; the number of students decreased by 3.5 times, the number of teachers decreased by more than 2 times; girls were attracted to higher education institutions to keep the contingent of students; due to compaction, the terms of study were reduced to 3-3.5 years, while many students worked. As a result, by the end of the war, the number of higher educational institutions and the number of students approached the pre-war level. Thus, the crisis of higher education was overcome in the shortest possible time.

It is worth noting that large sums were invested in education in the post-war period. In addition, collective farms, trade unions, and industrial cooperatives allocated money for school construction. 1,736 new schools were built in the RSFSR alone by the efforts of the population using the method of people's construction. By the beginning of the 1950s. The Russian school not only restored the number of educational institutions, but also switched to universal seven-year education.

About paid education under Stalin

After the destruction of the Soviet, socialist state in 1991 - the bourgeois-oligarchic revolution, where a significant part of the Soviet nomenklatura, especially the highest, acted as the bourgeois class, the Russian Federation, in fact, became a semi-colony of the West (and partly of the East). It is clear that in a semi-colony or in a country of peripheral capitalism it is not necessary to have an education system that gives hundreds of thousands of pretty good educated people(and compared to the average level of the West and East, not to mention Africa or Latin America, just great). After all, sooner or later they will start asking questions, expressing doubts about the success of the “reforms”. Therefore, the gradual demolition of the Soviet school began with the transformation of ordinary schools into an American analogue for commoners: “prison romanticism” (guards, cells, fences, etc.); refusal of educational, productive functions; reduction of hours of fundamental disciplines with the introduction of unnecessary lessons such as world culture, local languages, "God's law", etc.; translation into a second language - English (the language of the Anglo-American world order), which ultimately leads to the creation of an ideal consumer performer. At the same time, kindergartens and schools are gradually “capitalized”, that is, they are transferred to a paid basis. The children of the rich and "successful" get the opportunity to study in private elite schools in the Russian Federation or send their children to similar institutions abroad. That is, the people were again divided into two unequal parts, and the gains of socialism are being destroyed.

However, for this it was necessary to bring a certain ideological base. It was necessary to prove that the Soviet education created only "sovki" with totalitarian, militarized thinking. And how can one not remember that Stalin introduced "paid education"! Like, already under Stalin, a significant percentage of the population was cut off from the opportunity to continue education.

Actually it is not. First you need to remember that the Bolsheviks created high school in general, and it remained free for everyone. It was a huge work: capital investments, personnel, a vast territory, dozens of nationalities and many others. other. Universal primary education was established with great difficulty by the end of the 1920s. The total average - by the mid-1930s. In the 1930s, they created the basis for the best education in the world. And preparatory education for higher educational institutions (three senior classes), for which fees were introduced, in 1940 was only in its infancy. The introduction of tuition fees in high school, in fact, was the reason that the newly introduced social good did not have time to master. Second World War was already in full swing, the terrible Patriotic War was approaching. Soviet Union intensively engaged in preparations for it, so plans for the speedy introduction of a higher demon paid education had to be postponed.

A perfectly rational decision. At this moment, the Union needed more workers than representatives of the intelligentsia, taking into account the already created personnel base. In addition, military educational institutions were still free and seven-year schools stimulated the creation of a Soviet military elite. Young men could go to flying, tank, infantry and other schools. In the context of the war, this was state wise.

It is also worth noting that under Stalin they built a healthy hierarchy. At the top of the social ladder was the military, scientific and technical, educational (professorship, teaching staff) elite. Compulsory education was seven years, then dropping out through exams and the decision of the school's teachers' council. The rest is either according to the most severe competition, or in the direction of the competent organizations. At the same time, everyone had the opportunity to rise higher, talent and perseverance were needed. The armed forces and the party were powerful social elevators. Another important element of this system was the separate education of girls and boys. Given the psychological and physiological differences in the development of boys and girls, this was a very important step.

After Stalin, this healthy hierarchy, which they began to build, was destroyed by “leveling”. And since 1991, a new estate has been built (within the framework of the general archaization of the planet and the onset of neo-feudalism) with a division into rich and “successful” and poor, “losers”. But here there is a hierarchy with a minus sign: at the top of the social ladder there is a non-producing class, the capitalists are the “new feudal lords”, usurers-bankers, corrupt officials, mafia structures that serve their strata.

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It turns out that at first they introduced tuition fees, and then they began to exempt them from fees in certain specialties. By the way, it is possible that in 1941 this process continued.
FROM music schools the situation is understandable - in principle, not everyone is able to enter there (that is, certain abilities are needed).
Perhaps, in view of the impending war, they tried to stimulate enrollment in military schools in this way.

Yes, and the process continued, I wrote out briefly the names that I found in the plus consultant. Perhaps missed something.

Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of July 2, 1941 N 1803 "On exemption from tuition fees for children of private and junior commanding officers of the Red Army and Navy" (SP USSR, 1941, N 16, art. 311).

Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of October 15, 1942 N 1695 "On the exemption in the Kirghiz SSR of Kyrgyz students from tuition fees in grades 8-10 of secondary schools, in secondary specialized and higher educational institutions and providing students with scholarships."

Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of October 15, 1942 N 1696 "On the liberation in Tajik SSR students - Tajiks and Uzbeks from tuition fees in grades 8 - 10 of secondary schools, in secondary specialized and higher educational institutions and providing scholarships to students.

Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of March 4, 1950 N 838 "On exemption from tuition fees in higher and secondary specialized educational institutions for disabled veterans of the Patriotic War and former pupils of orphanages, labor colonies, labor educational colonies and pupils who were under patronage."

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Another thought - from about 1922-1923, if I'm not mistaken, our demographic growth began. The first were already finishing schools, but those born in 1924-1925. just entering that age. It couldn't have happened that there just weren't enough schools for everyone, and they decided to limit it a little in this way?

Different versions, up to the fact that they were preparing for the war. In my memory there was something similar when I finished school in 1984. Reduced in schools 9 and 10 classes, and squeezed out after 8 classes in vocational schools and techies. Here it seems to me a similar picture, at that level of industry, the proportion of 1940 was enough.
Number of students

Free education, accessible to all, is one of the main advantages of Soviet power, both in the eyes of its supporters and opponents. However, at one time they actively disseminated information that even in the USSR there was a paid education introduced under Stalin.

This caused a furious controversy, in which many citizens positively related to Stalin and the USSR actively denied the very fact of this. However, as the analysis shows historical sources, under Stalin, in 1940, a partial payment for education was indeed established.

Decree No. 638

We are talking about a completely official decision of the leadership of the USSR, signed by the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (SNK) V. Molotov. Decree No. 638 "On the establishment of tuition fees in senior classes of secondary schools and in higher educational institutions of the USSR and on changing the procedure for calculating scholarships" was issued in October 1940, shortly before the war, and was canceled by the Decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR in June 1956.

According to this decision of the government of the USSR, tuition fees were introduced in grades 8, 9 and 10 of secondary schools (as well as technical schools, colleges and other secondary educational institutions) and universities. For schools and technical schools, this fee in most cities and villages was 150 rubles a year, for Moscow and Leningrad, the capitals of the SSR, 200 rubles. For universities in the capital cities (and Leningrad) - 400 rubles a year, for other universities - 300 rubles.

Reasons for introducing tuition fees

The reasons for such a decision, given that before that the Soviet government had been pursuing a policy of spreading universal education, enlightenment and literacy for the population of the USSR, were very prosaic and set out in the Resolution itself.

Although in order to understand the true meaning of the decision, you need to look at its historical context. The Council of People's Commissars in its decision directly indicates that due to the increased level of well-being of citizens of the USSR and at the same time high construction costs, the ongoing development of a huge network of higher and secondary educational institutions, soviet state decided to lay part of the costs on the citizens themselves.

In fact, this means that having reached a certain, very high level of education and literacy among the population compared to the post-revolutionary years, having made a grandiose breakthrough in the development of industry, science and education immediately before the war, the USSR spent too much on this unprecedented modernization of the entire country.

The country's leadership, apparently clearly realizing that the level of education of Soviet citizens necessary for preparing for war and industrialization had been achieved, a huge layer of Soviet intelligentsia capable of meeting the needs of the country had been grown, decided to save funds for the further shock development of the educational system, directing them to current needs. . And the current needs of the USSR in 1940 meant the preparation of the country for the inevitable big war.

It was a more than justified step for a rather poor state, straining all its forces and resources to survive. In its breakthrough in the 1930s, the USSR reached a certain level of development of the education system, which provided for the current pragmatic needs of the country's survival and the further development of this system exclusively at the expense of the state, it was rather "surplus", for which there were no resources in those conditions.

A feasible burden for the population

As a result of this decision and the subsequent tragedy of the Great Patriotic War, there was some slowdown in the shock rates of the spread of public education. It should be noted that it was temporary, and the abandonment of measures to introduce paid education occurred immediately after the end of the war and the post-war period of reconstruction of the country.

As soon as the recovered state could afford the development of industries related not only to the needs of the current survival, it immediately did so. At the same time, one must understand that paid education from 1940 to 1956 was not an analogue of European paid, elite higher and secondary education that cut off educational services and knowledge.

As historians and researchers of the Soviet period point out, the amount of 150 rubles a year for schools and secondary educational institutions and 300 rubles a year for universities in most cities and villages of the country was not something unbearable.

Historians report that the average salary of a worker in 1940 was 300-350 rubles per month. Whereas the amounts of 300-400 rubles for education at universities were intended for annual education. Even if the indicated average salary is, one way or another, overstated, and in reality an ordinary worker or peasant could receive only 200 or even 100 rubles a month, all the same, the indicated tuition prices do not look unbearable.

Yes, for the population of a poor country, this money was not at all superfluous, and not all families had good salaries. For example, for the peasantry, these measures really created serious problems in social mobility. However, here we must understand that the Soviet authorities deliberately for a long time restrained the possibility of horizontal mobility of the inhabitants of the villages, keeping them in the collective farms.

At the same time, the introduction of fees did not cut off some other ways of obtaining free education, for example, in military educational institutions, and throughout the entire period of “Stalinist paid education”, despite the war and post-war reconstruction, the country's educational system was developing.

Objectively, regardless of the political assessments of the Soviet government, the introduction of paid education in the most difficult conditions was absolutely justified and did not become an insurmountable barrier separating different segments of the population by income level in the issue of obtaining educational services.

It should be noted that despite the myths, largely formed by propaganda, a truly social state in the USSR was not built immediately, which was completely natural in those historical conditions. On the way to a fairly well-fed and calm life of a Soviet citizen in 1960-1970, the USSR went through periods of deprivation and self-restraint. A little over 15 years of paid education was far from the most severe measure in these years of mobilization and asceticism.