Society of School Education

Society of School Education (Товариство шкільної освіти; Tovarystvo shkilnoi osvity; full name: Society for the Dissemination of School Education in Ukraine [Товариство розповсюдження шкільної освіти на Україні; Tovarystvo rozpovsiudzhennia shkilnoi osvity na Ukraini]). A Ukrainian educational and pedagogical society founded in March 1917 in Kyiv by Ukrainian teachers. Its goal was to organize Ukrainian education. The ruling body of the society was the Council of the Society, the first head of which was Ivan M. Steshenko. The society organized the first all-Ukrainian conference of teachers, held on 5–6 April 1917, and the first Ukrainian gymnasium in Kyiv. It set up a string of practical courses in Ukrainian studies for teachers. The society published textbooks and developed a Ukrainian educational terminology. It took part in the operations of the General Secretariat of the Central Rada. During the occupation of Ukraine by General Anton Denikin’s Volunteer Army, in the second half of 1919, the society assumed complete responsibility for maintaining Ukrainian-language education, for defending it against the administration, and for establishing a financial base to ensure its continuation. It ran its operations on generous donations from the Ukrainian community and the Ukrainian co-operative movement.

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