Ruthenian Training School

Ruthenian Training School (Руська учительська семінарія; Ruska uchytelska seminariia). An institution established in Winnipeg in 1905 by the government of Manitoba to provide bilingual teachers for Ukrainian settlements in the province. The curriculum consisted of English language, Canadian and British history, literature, mathematics, geography, botany, science, accounting, art, music, and Ukrainian language and literature, with pedagogical courses in the normal school. A Third Class Normal School Diploma was awarded to those who completed the two- to three-year program. Transferred to Brandon, Manitoba, in 1907, the school was without a Ukrainian teacher from 1910 to 1913, and in 1912 it became part of the Brandon Normal School. Faced with opposition to Ukrainian bilingual education, the government closed the school in 1916. J. Cressy was the school’s director, and the Ukrainian teachers were Ya. Makohin, D. Pyrch, Taras Ferley, and Petro Karmansky. Many future Ukrainian-Canadian community leaders attended the school.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 4 (1993).]