Education Legislation Development Under Alexander II and Alexander III

The article presents the main directions in the field of legislative regulation of the sphere of education during the reign of Alexander II and Alexander III. The authors emphasize the importance of the education process as a means of transmitting scientifically proven and well-established knowledge and a source of norms and values of the next generations that form the backbone of the state. The authors analyze the main normative legal acts of these periods, which make it possible to understand the main principles and ideas on which the state policy in the field of education was formed for almost the entire second half of the 19th century. The normative legal acts analyzed in this article include the University Charter of 18 June 1863, the Regulation on Primary Public Schools of 14 July 1864, the Charter of gymnasiums and progymnasiums of 19 November 1864, the circular of the Minister of Public Education “On the reduction of gymnasium education” of 5 June 1887. On the basis of these acts, the main directions of the policy in the field of education of the two emperors are formulated. The study shows inconsistency of the policy of the two emperors regarding the regulation of the autonomy of educational institutions and the sequence of rationing of the education sector along the way of combating revolutionary sentiments and the formation of terrorist organizations. The authors compare the legal regulation in the field of education during the reigns of Alexander II and Alexander III with modern Russian reality. Parallels are drawn between the state policy of these times, on the basis of which it is concluded that the continuity and immutability of the goals of state activity to ensure territorial integrity and counter extremist and separatist forces.

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