THE Soviet educational system stemmed from the Great October Socialist Revolution.  `Land, Peace and Bread’ were the clarion slogans which inspired the workers, peasants, soldiers and toiling masses into the revolutionary upsurge.  After the revolution, the Bolshevik government underlined the importance of laying a strong educational foundation for the building of socialism. It was more so in view of the fact that Russia had less developed productive forces in comparison to most of the other European countries.

Before revolution, the educational level of Tsarist Russia was deplorable.  Four-fifth of children of school age in Russia were not attending schools in those times. Most of those who could gain admission were getting only elementary education. 

Lenin, in 1913, wrote angrily: “There is no other country so barbarous and in which the masses of the people are robbed to such an extent of education, light and knowledge – no other such country has remained in Europe; Russia is the exception”. 

For many of over one hundred nationalities and ethnic groups in Tsarist Russia, total illiteracy was the fate and there were very few exceptions. Many languages did not have even a script. Only 2.3 percent of population of Tajikistan, between the age group of 9 to 50, were literate!  The figures for Kirghizia was 3.1 percent and Turkmenia was 7.8 percent. 

The success of the socialist revolution transformed the situation dramatically.  Immediately after assuming the responsibility of the People’s Commissar of Education,  A V Lunacharsky issued a statement elucidating the broad perspective of the Bolshevik government with regard to education.  It stated: “Every genuinely democratic power must, in the domain of education, in a country where illiteracy and ignorance reign supreme, make its first aim the struggle against this darkness.  It must acquire in the shortest time universal literacy, by organising a network of schools answering to the demands of modern pedagogies; it must introduce universal, obligatory and free tuition for all, and establish at the same time a series of such teachers’ institutes and seminaries as will in the shortest time furnish a powerful army of people’s teachers so necessary for the universal instruction of the population of our bondless Russia”.

The concept stated the importance of decentralisation also.  According to this approach, the State Commission on People’s Education is, by no means, a central power governing the institutions of instruction and education. On the contrary, the entire school work ought to be transferred to the organs of local self-government.  The independent work of the workers, soldiers and peasants, establishing on their own initiative, cultural educational organisations must be given full autonomy, both by the state centre and the municipal centres.  The work of the State Commission serves as a link to organise resources of material and moral support to the municipal and private institutions, particularly to those with a class character established by the workers.

With these path-breaking initiatives, millions of boys and girls started getting literacy and education of different grades. By the 1930s, universal seven year compulsory education was introduced throughout Soviet Union.  Along with this, as a result of the joint efforts of State institutions and mass voluntary organisations, illiteracy among the adult population was eliminated.  As part of this movement, 50 million illiterates and 40 million semi-literates have learnt reading, writing and arithmetic.  In this, initiative of the socialist government and voluntary work of mass organisations played an important part.

During the third Five Year Plan (1938-1942), the country was to have gained compulsory secondary education in the cities and compulsory seven year education in rural areas.  However, as a result of the diabolic attack by Nazi Germany, these educational projects met with tremendous obstacles.  During the great patriotic war (1941-1945), Nazi attack destroyed 82,000 schools attended by 15 million children.  334 higher education institutions and thousands of libraries were also destroyed or burnt down.  However, after the great victory over Nazism and fascism led by the Red Army, along with the allied forces, planned and dedicated initiatives in the field of education and culture were given top priority by the Soviet government.  By 1952, compulsory seven year education was achieved in the entire USSR.

By 1970 Census, the literacy level in USSR reached a record 99.8 percent for men and 99.7 percent for women.  As per the UNESCO statistics, the ‘paradise’ of capitalism had only 95.5 percent literacy during the same time in USA.  France had 96.4 percent and Italy had 91.6 percent.  This means, revolutionary Russia could surpass most developed capitalist countries in literacy and education despite the civil war, interventionist war by a dozen capitalist countries, Nazi German attack and so on. 

After October Revolution, over 40 nationalities without a written language of their own were able to create their own alphabet, written language and literature during Soviet time.  This is very significant from educational as well as cultural point of view.  Children in Soviet Union were able to learn in their own mother tongue.  However, in non-Russian linguistic areas, along with their own language, Russian as well as a foreign language, was also encouraged.  It is true some distortions have been alleged with regard to the language policy later on.

The achievements in the field of women’s education are also very significant. Before revolution, the literacy among the girls and women between the age group of 9 and 49 was less than around 16 percent. However, by 1970, it was 99.7 percent as mentioned earlier.  Of every thousand women, 452 had a higher or secondary education.

In 1975, USSR had one-fourteenth of the world’s population. However, every fourth book published in the world was in USSR.  Every fourth student in the world was in Soviet Union.  Every fourth doctor was from USSR.  Every third research worker was in USSR.

This was the result of massive investment and socialist planning.  For example, the third Five Year Plan provided funds for setting up of 20,000 new schools and training of 5,00,000 new teachers. Money spent on education also increased rapidly between 1932 and 1941.  Per head spending on education has increased eight times and it reached 12 percent of the national budget by the 1970s. 

Another important aspect of Soviet education was the concept of the all-round development of boys and girls.  The curriculum of all schools included nature study, art, music, physical culture and social sciences apart from languages, various science subjects, mathematics etc.

The great strides made in education as well as research and culture provided Soviet Union with the strength and capability to gain indisputable supremacy in the field of science and technology during the 1950s and 1960s.  In 1957, USSR put the first orbiting satellite on space, Sputnik 1.  Same year, in Sputnik 2, dog Laika was put on space orbit.  In 1959, Luna 1 was successfully launched by USSR which was the first object to go around the moon.  In 1960 and 1961, Soviet Union succeeded in launching the first satellites ever to go near Mars and Venus.  1961 became the high watermark in space exploration. In Vostok 1, Yuri Gagarin entered the space and travelled around the earth.  Within two years time, in 1963, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to go to space.

Those were the days when the refrain “John doesn’t know what Ivan knows” was popular.  This was to underline the great achievements USSR was able to gain in the field of education, science, technology and research.  In USSR, education was not a privilege of the rich and powerful, but a right of every citizen.   Scientific, secular and democratic education was compulsory and accessible to everyone.  Through this and developments in the field of agriculture, industry and service sector, unemployment was fully eradicated in USSR. By mid-thirties, last employment exchange was closed down with the success in ensuring full employment to everyone.  This was the impact of the growth of education and training on a massive scale and the industrial and agricultural development along with service sector.

Rabindranath Tagore, after having visited USSR, observed the following: “If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I could have never believed that in just ten years they have not only led hundreds of thousands of people out of the darkness of ignorance and degradation and taught them to read and write, but also fostered in them a sense of human dignity. We need to come here specifically to study the organisation of education.”