County school

County school [повітове училище; povitove uchylyshche; Russian: уездное училище; uezdnoe uchilishche]. A two-year elementary superior school established in 1804 in the county and gubernia centers of the Russian Empire, including Ukraine, to prepare students from various social estates for admission to gymnasiums. County schools were supervised by gymnasium directors. In 1828 the connection between the county schools and the gymnasiums was abolished, and the schools were transformed into three-year elementary schools for the children of merchants, tradesmen, and other townsfolk. In 1872 the county schools were reorganized into the city school system.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]