NO STUDENT IS OUT OF SCHOOL (IMPLEMENTATION OF THE LAW ON MANDATORY EDUCATION IN THE VOLYN REGION IN THE FIRST POST-WAR DECADE)

Abstract

Quality and universal education in the modern world is an integral feature of a developed society. Free and equal access to education ensures progress in the establishment of democratic rights and freedoms, and in the formation of the civil society and the constitutional state. But not only developed democratic states realize the whole essence of education. This is also inherent in totalitarian regimes, one of which was the Soviet Union. The communist Marxist- Leninist ideology established the worldview it needed by the means of education and kept the conquered nations in its grip. With the restoration of the Soviet management system in Volyn, the communist leadership considered the restoration of the network of educational institutions and the inclusion of children in education as one of the primary tasks. The article analyzes the process of introducing compulsory education in the Volyn Region in the first post-war decade. Special attention is paid to the issue of the implementation of the Law on the conditions of post-war Volyn. On the basis of archival sources, a number of reasons have been established that hampered the process of completing mandatory education. The main among them are difficulties with a development of schools’ network, a lack of school-age children qualitative registration, insufficient financial support, problems with transporting children and their nutrition. The important role of qualified teachers in the implementation of the Law on compulsory education is also emphasized. The lack of teachers partially hampered the implementation of the Law in a number of Volyn districts. Emphasis is placed on the transformation of the school education network in the late 40s and early 50s of the 20th century. At that time, there was a gradual reduction of primary schools and the growth of seven-years schools and secondary ones with the simultaneous growth of the students’ segment. At the same time, the author emphasizes that the Law on mandatory education was not implemented during the researched period.