Teacher's Day in the USSR

During the era of the Soviet Union, according to the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated October 1, 1980 “On Holidays and Memorable Dates,” Teacher’s Day in the USSR was celebrated on the first Sunday in October The teaching profession was one of the most respected in the USSR Russian statesman Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin called teachers “engineers of human souls” And in the New Year's Soviet film itself, there is a very accurate phrase: “teachers’ mistakes are not so noticeable, but in the end they are no less expensive” than doctors’ mistakes By the end of the 19th century, the level of literacy in the Russian Empire was incredibly low for a country that had embarked on the path of industrial development The first serious studies were carried out in 1897, their results are today recognized by both domestic and foreign scientists According to these data, the country had only 211% of the population literate The rest could neither write nor read To be fair, it is worth noting that the state tried to solve this problem The level of general literacy began to increase, but wars reduced the results of these efforts to zero The fact that the western regions, in which considerable funds were invested to raise the level of literacy, were occupied and never returned to the country, also played a role After the end of the civil war, the issue of eliminating illiteracy was one of the first on the agenda A special emergency commission was created to deal with this problem In the 1920s, special courses for teacher training began to be introduced and educational literature began to be published The first to learn to read and write were Red Army soldiers, Komsomol members, members of trade unions and state farms Each locality in which the number of illiterate people exceeded 15 people was required to have its own liquidation center Initially, the curriculum included reading, writing, and counting, but later it was supplemented and expanded By 1934, universal primary education was introduced everywhere, and the problem of illiteracy in the USSR was completely solved The position of teachers in the USSR today often becomes a subject of controversy Many people say that life was bad for teachers in those days, they earned little, but at the same time many other positive aspects are “forgotten” For example, if a teacher took charge of class management, extracurricular activities, and was involved in clubs and sections, then his salary could already be compared with the income of an experienced engineer who spent much more time at work Young teachers first received a room in a dormitory, and later they were given separate apartments There was no need to worry about the education of our own children and “save for college” from their birth In the USSR, higher education remained free Rural teachers had additional benefits For example, they were exempt from paying utility bills Local village councils also provided them with free firewood or coal during the heating season Teachers could receive literature for free to broaden their horizons; for this they only had to subscribe to periodicals The prestige of the teaching profession grew from the very first years of the formation of the Soviet state School played an important role in the life of every child and teenager Teachers not only invested the necessary knowledge into fragile minds, but also largely determined the future personality of the child The school took on an educational function In the process of education, children were instilled with pride in their Motherland and formed ideological beliefs The relationship between students and teachers was not limited to school This was the main feature of Soviet education The teacher became not only a teacher for the child, but also a friend, adviser, and senior comrade He worried about his academic performance and delved into family problems The teacher was an indisputable authority not only for the child, but also for his parents This course was set by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, who wanted to raise the teacher “to such a height at which he has never stood and does not stand and cannot stand in bourgeois society” If your school years were spent during the times of the USSR, then Soviet Teacher's Day on the first Sunday of October is an excellent occasion to remember your mentors and congratulate them on the holiday