Russia

Within the R.S.F.S.R., which comes fourth on the list, are included many areas where education is peculiarly difficult and these offset the good school provision in such places as the Crimea, Moscow and Leningrad. The increasing pressure of finan cial burdens resulted in the closing of some schools opened in the first enthusiasm of the new ideals, and so, side by side with the attempts to liquidate illiteracy, the production of illiterates through lack of educational opportunities still goes on, though in a diminishing ratio. Lunacharsky, the Minister of Education, in a stirring appeal for further effort, quoted a peasant's speech, "Here am I 45 years of age being taught, and there is no one to teach my little son of io years," and he also quoted the many appeals for further educational opportunities addressed to him by women on their own behalf and for their children.

Child Education.

The Soviet scheme divides education of young children into three groups. (I) Kindergartens and creches for children of pre-school age (3 to 8 years), (2) unified labour schools for children of 8 to 12 years, (3) institutions for orphans, neglected children and mentally or physically defective children. In pre-1914 times there were 30o kindergartens, mainly in towns, supported by private persons or liberal zemstvos. In 1925 there were 1,146 kindergartens and children's homes providing for 6o,000 children. "Children's squares" had been established in rural districts for the harvest period, where the children of peas ant mothers working on the fields are taken care of by a teacher or a nurse. The number of unified labour schools in 1925 was 87,00o providing for 6,817,000 children as against 94,000 primary schools providing for 5,900,000 children in pre-war times. In this connection it must be borne in mind that Finland and some parts of the west now lost to Russia had better school provision, so that the figures are not really comparable. In 1925 there were schools for mentally defective children with 3,23o pupils and 56 schools for blind, deaf and dumb, and crippled children; these are mainly residential. In 1926-7 the number of elementary and secondary schools had increased markedly. The disproportion between the provision of education for the peasant and for the towns comes out sharply in the following figures when it is remem bered that more than 8o% of the population is rural.

School Statistics.

The towns in 1926-7 had 6,96o elementary and secondary schools attended by 1,893,386 pupils, while the villages had 92,937 schools with 7,498,322 pupils; the towns had 1,218 schools with a nine-year course attended by 395,552 pupils and the villages 47o attended by 173,35o pupils. The difficulty

of providing for village education even in countries where the railway net is good and distances are small is great, but in a country like Russia where the railway net is poor, and the rail ways so overcrowded that it may be two or three days before a passenger can secure a seat, and where distances are so great that a child may be 200 or 30o m. from the nearest secondary school, they are at present an insuperable problem and many rural children attend school for two years only (from 8 to 10 years). Other villages have no schools at present; the replace ment of school buildings destroyed during the war and the build ing of new schools at present absorb much of the education budget. Moreover there were no teachers trained to meet the new demand for them and much money has gone in provision of train ing colleges.

As time goes on these two items must diminish and money will be available for equipment, which is in a deplorable condi tion in many schools. The minister of education hopes, in spite of all these difficulties, that school places will be available for all children by 1934. Incidentally it should be noted that the first ideal of free education has had to be replaced by fee-paying rules in view of the general impoverishment of local budgets. A gradual change is coming over the spirit of education and instead of the earlier attempt to insist on uniformity, attempts are made to discover individual inclinations and abilities, and there is less attempt to introduce politics to children too young to understand them.

A distinctive feature of Soviet education is its attempt to link the school with life outside the school at every possible point. Sport and physical culture are increasingly encouraged with the following proviso, "Soviet sport is particularly anxious to do away with the disease of 'record-breaking,' for it con siders physical culture as a means of preserving and improving health, not as an end in itself." The complicated problem of the homeless orphans of the war and famine is still a cause for anxiety; many homes have been provided, but the children have often become so wild and detached from normal life by their terrible experiences that they prefer the freedom of the streets and the open road, often travelling incredible distances. Recently attempts to attract them have been made by establishing colonies where they are allowed to pursue arts and crafts or to cultivate their own gardens and fields. Some have been adopted by peasants ; many have died; thousands are in homes and colonies and yet numbers remain, sleeping on the pavements, in cellars, even in cemeteries, and growing up to be a menace to the state.