Education in the Soviet Union: How Did it Change?
How the USSR managed to eradicate illiteracy within the Union
Education was and still is a vital part of society. Thus in the Soviet Union, the need to improve it became of key importance.
Providing education for children meant those in the lower classes would be able to rise up. Before the Soviet Union, illiteracy rates were extremely high and those with any education was limited. If the USSR wanted to improve as a state, it had to transform this.
Post-1917
Before the Communist takeover, education in Russia had been limited to the rich, most of all at the secondary level.
Despite the few various technical schools for middle classes and primary schools, it was considered for many children that school was not an important part of their life.
School was never compulsory in this time, and 88 percent of children, in rural areas, failed to complete primary education.
Early Developments
The Commissariat of Education (also known as Narkompros) was given control of the education system in 1917, led by Anatoly Lunachevsky. The Bolsheviks also launched a programme to provide free and compulsory education for all children from seven to…
