Legislative basis of secondary education in the Russian Empire in the modern era

In this article, based on the analysis of written documents and monographs, we will discuss the legislative foundation of secondary education in the Russian Empire. In order to navigate in the diversity of laws we will try to make a conditional difference in the periods of legislation in the sphere of education. First of all we will analyze the situation in the education domain in the 17th century. The first attempts to organize a unified school system throughout the country were made just at that time, but the first state school system was established only in the 19th century due to the reforms of 1802-1803. The establishment of the Ministry of Public Education, Preliminary Regulations concerning public education, and University Regulations led to the fact that in November of 1804 the “Regulations of Educational Institutions Subordinate to Universities” were established. Under the new law, education is divided into the following types: university, gymnasium, county, and parochial. All these educational institutions were closely linked. Despite all the advances in the field of education during the 19th century, the level of primary, secondary, and higher education in Russia was still much lower than in European countries.