In the submitted data the development of primary school in Ossetia in the second half of the XIX – early XXth century is being discussed. A church school for a long time remained the main form of primary education here. Having many shortcomings (both in the pedagogical aspect and in staffing), the church school in Ossetia was, nevertheless, practically the only form of primary education available to the mountain peasants. The evolution of the institute of the church school was fully correlated with the change of attitudes and orientations in the state educational policy and reflected the general state of the lowest educational level in the Russian Empire. However, the tasks of the socio-economic development of Ossetia urgently demanded to reform the entire primary education system and to remove it from the control of the clerical department. Staying true to its missionary purpose, the church school in Ossetia at the beginning of the 20th century lost its leading position, because the program it offered ceased to satisfy the increased educational needs of the local population and did not meet the challenges of the era. The change of political regime in Russia in March 1917 provoked a revival in the teaching circles of Ossetia, where the idea of establishing the All-Ossetian Teacher's Congress arose. In its work, the most acute problems of the Ossetian school were discussed and the questions of its reorganization and nationalization based on the native language were raised. The published minutes of the meetings of the First All-Ossetian Teacher’s Congress, held in July 1917, provide an exhaustive picture of the main directions of the desired development of the Ossetian school, the system of school, pre-school and post-secondary education and upbringing, curricula and programs that include a wide range of Ossetian studies disciplines.

Keywords: Ossetia, primary school, the Russian language, the Ossetian language, First All-Ossetian Teachers' Congress, nationalization of the school.

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