Volost Schools

primary schools in 19th-century Russia that trained clerks for the administrative boards of state properties and for rural administration. The schools were established by a decree of 1830, one in each volost, and they were financed by a special tax levied on state and crown peasants. Volost schools were listed in the department of bureaus of public charity; male peasant children of school age constituted up to 10 percent of the enrollment, and these pupils were taught reading, writing, and clerical work. The level of instruction in volost schools was very low. In the 1860’s, in accordance with new legislation on state and crown peasants, tax levies in support of these schools was no longer obligatory; volost schools lost their source of financial support and ceased to exist almost everywhere.